00:00Our kids run barefoot in the jungle.
00:02So what?
00:03Yes, there are snakes and spiders.
00:05We have heard of people getting eaten.
00:07Do you know what to do if you do see a snake?
00:09We're chatting or I forgot.
00:12We teach our kids to climb trees and use knives
00:15so they can survive in the wild.
00:17I don't let them go to school.
00:18I'd rather do it here.
00:19Don't chop your hands.
00:20People accuse us of putting our kids in danger
00:23every single day.
00:25This is so not safe.
00:27I really worry about your kids.
00:29People are too comfortable in their lives.
00:31How are our sons going to learn if they don't take any risks?
00:34Well, that's a sharp machete.
00:36Hey boys, let's go in the woods and get some breakfast.
00:39Yes, yes.
00:40My name is Josiah.
00:41This is my wife, Thelma.
00:42And we live out here in the jungle off-grid
00:45with our three children.
00:47The oldest, he's very talkative
00:48and loves to engage with people in the middle.
00:51He loves plants.
00:52He's like a botanist, but he's not very much into people.
00:55The youngest is just the baby.
00:57He's very loving and kind.
00:58He likes to hug.
01:00So when you guys are going out for breakfast,
01:01what do you bring with you?
01:02A machete and a vibe.
01:05A lot of times I do get to use the machete.
01:07Most times my daddy uses it.
01:09What do you use it for?
01:12Opening the fruits and stuff.
01:15Alright, you guys ready?
01:16Yeah.
01:17Let's go.
01:21I see the kids nowadays like glued to their phones
01:23and I see it very detrimental.
01:25So that's why we decided to take a different stand against it.
01:29Oh wow, you found some wild berries?
01:32We don't send our kids to public school
01:34because we think it's important to teach them
01:37how to live off-grid and to do stuff for themselves.
01:40Alright, you ready boys?
01:43Woo, yes, let's go gather them.
01:45Alright, pick them up.
01:46I'm okay with them going barefoot
01:48and I'm okay with them running free in the woods.
01:50Look, this is a nice one.
01:52That one's for the baby.
01:53A lot of people are worried if we let children run around barefoot.
01:56They might step on a snake or whatever,
01:58but the more important part is to teach them what to do when there is a snake.
02:03Oh, is that awesome?
02:04Look boys.
02:06This worm.
02:07This is very painful.
02:09You come against this.
02:10Don't touch it.
02:11Don't ever touch it.
02:12You see these in the woods?
02:13Just leave them alone.
02:14Don't try to pet it.
02:16It's not a nice fuzzy animal or something.
02:18So you both kind of grew up in this.
02:20I grew up here.
02:21We didn't even have electricity.
02:24My parents, they raised us completely off-grid
02:26without any like modern convenience.
02:28Not even lights.
02:29Not a light.
02:30And that was all my childhood.
02:32And I knew him since I was like four.
02:34He lived six days down the river.
02:36We had to like plan a trip months ahead.
02:38There's no cell phone service.
02:39No internet, no roads.
02:40A radio.
02:46Everything that flows from this side is clean.
02:49Here.
02:51Ooh, a large now?
02:53It doesn't bother you to drink water where a snail is living?
02:56No.
02:57He's thirsty.
02:59Okay.
03:00You good?
03:04Sometimes there's places in the woods where there isn't fresh water like that.
03:07And then if you find one of these uña de gato vines, they always have fresh water inside of them.
03:12Let's hold it up.
03:12It'll drip out.
03:14Okay.
03:14Stick your mouth under.
03:16There's water.
03:17Open your mouth.
03:19Yummy.
03:21That's good for you water.
03:23The main reason we're here is because we love like the jungle.
03:26We like the woods here.
03:27And it's tropical year round.
03:29I love acai.
03:32Ripe acai.
03:33Should we get them?
03:35I love to know that I can provide for my own meat.
03:38We like to know where our food comes from.
03:40We like, yeah.
03:42We have 36 hectares and the rest of it is just natural forest.
03:48We harvest wild fruits as well as raisins, our garden.
03:54All right.
03:58Woo-hoo!
04:06Okay.
04:07And?
04:08Tired?
04:09Yes, I'm tired.
04:10Good job.
04:11But it feels good.
04:12Wow, look at all that.
04:13I see.
04:14Even the baby's getting into it.
04:16How often do you climb trees?
04:18Pretty often.
04:20Like every other day.
04:22Lots of times actually just for fun.
04:24I remember I taught him how to climb the first tree.
04:28Yeah.
04:30When they're a young age, they have no idea.
04:31They want to climb as high as they want to go.
04:33So you have to sort of monitor them and watch them.
04:35But then when you can see that they're ready,
04:38we let them climb higher trees.
04:40Further out on the hang, not up against the trunk.
04:42Yeah, like that.
04:43Maybe you can pull it like that.
04:45There you go.
04:46All right.
04:47Can I sit down?
04:48I always stand underneath them still just to make sure
04:51that they won't fall.
04:52And if they do fall, I can catch them.
04:54Has that happened?
04:56With the little one, yeah.
04:57That has happened before.
04:58Just like a little slide, a little fall, like nothing big.
05:02This is the berry.
05:04And there's the flesh.
05:08And right there is the nut.
05:11When you chop, you do just a little bit of an angle like that.
05:14And then another notch here.
05:16Like that.
05:18And give it a shot.
05:20Okay, I'm going to stand back out of your way a little bit.
05:25Your older son can use a knife.
05:27Yeah, well a knife is just like anything can be dangerous,
05:31but the most dangerous thing is if you don't know how to use it.
05:34The benefit to living like this is teaching them how to survive,
05:38how to fend for themselves, how to work.
05:40I know that it's very good for them to go barefoot,
05:42for them to eat the wild fruit, for their immune system to get strong,
05:45for them to get stung by wasps.
05:47Boys, are you guys ever worried about snakes or bugs or anything?
05:51Not really.
05:52But do you know what to do if you do see a snake?
05:54What do you do?
05:55Do you play with it?
05:57Do you play with it?
05:59The nearest hospital is three hours away from us.
06:02And sometimes I am worried like if something major were to happen,
06:05there's no emergency room.
06:07But we're very careful and we take many precautions.
06:10If you don't know if a berry is poisonous or not, what do you do?
06:13Well, you can take a tiny bite.
06:16Take a tiny bite so you can get sick or nothing.
06:19Eat a little bit more, a little bit more.
06:22It's not so much dangerous stuff.
06:24I mean, we've had trouble with jaguars eating the cows.
06:28That could be something, you know?
06:29All right, let's gather up our harvest.
06:32Are you scared about jaguars and your children or not necessarily?
06:35I'm not really because I feel like we're very connected to nature and we can like,
06:42feel like, I think the jaguar respects us.
06:45We have heard of people getting eaten further down the road.
06:49Yeah, there was a person but none of us got eaten.
06:56Okay, why did we get for breakfast?
06:58Do you have the phone?
06:59Yeah, I have it.
07:00Let's make a video about it.
07:01This morning we went in the woods and we found all this fruit.
07:04Look, we found maho, we found acai, and palm heart.
07:07And now we're going to make breakfast.
07:09Give it a good whack, but don't chop your hand.
07:11Yeah, just like that.
07:13I'm teaching him how to use the machete safely.
07:16From a young age, I try to teach my kids how to use a machete and a knife
07:21and bigger machetes to defend themselves, to gather wild fruit.
07:24Why did you decide to start making these videos?
07:27One, two, three, go!
07:28We just decided maybe to inspire people to, you know, go do things for themselves.
07:33Welcome to my outdoor kitchen.
07:35It's Lonely Day in the Creek today.
07:37And part of the reason, of course, was just to, you know, earn some money here,
07:41so we can finish our house and do that.
07:43In April, we'll be celebrating one year of reading Facebook,
07:46and we already have one million followers.
07:51Mmm, yummy!
07:52Right in the middle.
07:54Yeah, he's very strong.
07:56I'm just going to throw this out.
07:58This is the edible part right here.
08:00All right, let's drink acai.
08:06We're not going to be cursed, huh?
08:08Did the kids previously go to a regular school?
08:11They've never gone to a regular school.
08:13I can teach them just exactly what they can teach them,
08:16so I'd rather do it here.
08:19My oldest son wants to be a scientist when he grows up,
08:21and we told him it's totally, he can go do whatever he wants when he grows up.
08:25We're just giving him the basic education.
08:27Does it concern you in any way that they're not socializing with other children?
08:31It doesn't concern me that much.
08:34We take them to town occasionally, and they learn how to socialize with people.
08:38If they were completely isolated, then yeah, but...
08:40Yes, they would hide when people come.
08:42Then I would be concerned, but they don't do that.
08:44They're friendly, so...
08:45Do you like eating in restaurants in the city, or not so much?
08:48Not so much. It's nicer here.
08:50When we're traveling and stuff, and we have to eat street food and stuff,
08:52it's like, we get very sick.
08:54Our stomachs are not used to eating it.
08:57Well, what about Coke?
08:58You've already missed Coke, don't you?
08:59No.
09:00Beer.
09:01Would you rather have Coke or acai?
09:03Acai.
09:04Way better.
09:06Our land provides us with more food than we can even eat.
09:09As far as animals for food, we have cows, milk, cheese, butter, meat.
09:14Yogurt.
09:15Yogurt.
09:16And I have a garden.
09:17I raise tomatoes, green beans, yucca.
09:21But then, I do go to town to buy diapers for my son, and we buy salt, we buy some
09:27rice,
09:29and...
09:29Gasoline.
09:30Gasoline.
09:31We do buy gasoline.
09:32We hope, eventually, not to have to almost buy anything.
09:37We started building our house about two years ago, and it's still a work in progress.
09:40We have a lot of stuff that's unfinished, but we'll show you around.
09:45So, this is the kitchen area and the living room area where we eat.
09:48My husband built all of this by himself.
09:50In fact, we mostly built the house all by ourselves.
09:53This is my bedroom here, and the baby is asleep.
09:56We painted all of this by ourselves, installed the fans, installed the lights.
10:01We definitely live off-grid.
10:03There's no cell phone service out here.
10:05There's no city power.
10:07So, everything that we have out here is from solar or a backup generator.
10:12There's seven solar panels on the roof.
10:14These are the controllers that regulate the power to the batteries to make sure they get the right voltage.
10:20The main thing is to not be entirely dependent on power, so that if it goes down, we can always
10:27cook with fire.
10:28We can wash clothes by hand.
10:30The creek's down there, we can haul water.
10:31This is the boys' room.
10:34We want to make them bunk beds, but for now, they like it, and I'm very comfortable with it because
10:39there's no falling off the bed, right?
10:43And this is the balcony.
10:44We get up, like, at 5.30 before any of the animals are up, right?
10:47And then the monkeys slowly start passing through, and the birds, they start flying overhead, and it's so cool.
10:53It's so fun.
10:54Like, it's so peaceful.
10:55I just lay out here on the hammock with my tablet and my other thing out here.
10:59I guess it's my office.
11:00How do you fund the lifestyle here?
11:02Originally, we used to make cheese to sell, and lately we've also been earning some from social media.
11:08Hey, why don't you check the video that we posted earlier today, see if it got any comments.
11:12Let's see what they said.
11:14Swinging a blade above your other hand is not teaching him safety.
11:17One slip and he could cut his finger.
11:19I don't think I would ever cut my children's finger.
11:23I never have, and I've been doing it all their lives and all my life.
11:27Sometimes I do feel, like, down when people write, like, really negative things, like, you're permanently damaging your kids.
11:33Or even, like, putting them on camera, they don't want to be on camera.
11:37Or letting them go barefoot, or feeding them cows milk.
11:40So many people like to comment on our videos and say, your kids are going barefoot, and you're wearing boots.
11:45But I can't make them wear shoes.
11:47As soon as they could walk, they were going barefoot.
11:49And when we went to town, I tried to put shoes on them, but they refused to let me.
11:53Please take care of crocodile safety first.
11:55I really worry about your kids.
11:57Crocodiles.
11:58Crocodiles.
11:59Oh, there's no crocodiles here.
12:01Cow raw milk is the worst thing.
12:04This is so not safe.
12:06When people comment and say that I'm putting my kids in danger,
12:09I feel like they don't know what they're talking about because they haven't experienced this.
12:13When we first started posting content, we were more concerned about what the people would think or say.
12:18But now we see a comment like that, it doesn't bother us anymore.
12:21A lot of people comment very positive things like, I'm inspiring them to go outdoors,
12:26which I feel like it makes me very happy and it makes me feel very accomplished.
12:30This is what rich looks like.
12:32These kids are having such a good childhood.
12:35The kids must be so happy to live like that.
12:38Can you adopt me please?
12:40I was more concerned that people would come and maybe try to take the kids away and say we're not
12:45safe parents.
12:46But then again, we do live way back out here.
12:48So who's going to come?
12:50All right.
12:51Come.
12:52I'm going to give you fresh cow milk.
12:58Look at that.
12:59Delicious.
13:01The youngest is all excited about cows.
13:03Every day when I go up to milk, he goes there with his cup.
13:06And he'll even drink straight from the teat.
13:09On the video of the children drinking milk straight from the cow, we got a lot of comments.
13:14Wow.
13:15Can you do it by yourself?
13:17Probably 50% of them were people saying you cannot give children raw cow's milk.
13:23It's poisonous to them and they're not meant to drink it.
13:26Next.
13:26We know our cows.
13:28We know our cows are healthy and we know the milk is good.
13:30I feel like when they pasteurize it, it kills like most of the good nutrients.
13:35So I think fresh cow milk straight from the udder is the best thing you can give your child.
13:39Cheers.
13:40Cheers.
13:41I like it a lot.
13:43It tastes very good.
13:44It's good for you and it makes you very strong.
13:47It's my favorite thing to drink.
13:53What would you say about the people who do judge you in your way of life?
13:57I feel that they're just ignorant.
13:59We're not neglecting our children, but we're intentionally raising them this way.
14:03In the city, you might get hit by a car.
14:06In the jungle, a snake might bite you.
14:08With proper precautions, it can be safe anywhere.
14:13We're together most of the time.
14:14We live off what we produce from the ground.
14:17For me, this is a more positive environment to raise your children and lifestyle.
14:23Do you ever wish you could live in the city instead of the jungle?
14:26No.
14:27In the city, I can't run around.
14:31I can hardly breathe.
14:33I think more people should live in the jungle because there's a lot of fruits to eat
14:39and you can go exploring in the woods whenever you want.
14:43How would you feel if your kids decide the jungle life isn't for them?
14:46They want to do something else.
14:47If they decide to do something different when they're older, that's totally fine with me.
14:50It's their decision once they grow up.
14:52Whatever their passion is, that's what I want them to do, yeah?
14:56Do you think you could ever go back to the normal life?
14:59I feel like I could fit in, but I wouldn't want to fit in.
15:02We could do something else.
15:03This is what we're doing right now and I'm content with it.
15:07What do you see in the next five, ten years for your family?
15:10I hope we can still be blessed and do the exact same thing we're doing
15:13and maybe even get more independent than we are already.
15:17I'm totally excited.
15:18I'm super excited about doing this, keeping on doing this forever.
15:23I'm super excited.
Comments