00:00We live off the grid on an active volcano.
00:03All of this here, I mean, it was all holes, straight down lava.
00:08Motherhood gets people so mad.
00:10They're like, you're doing it wrong, it's not safe.
00:12You got a shovel?
00:13Yeah.
00:13You ready to process these bananas?
00:15Yeah.
00:16Do you think this lifestyle could negatively impact your kids?
00:20Absolutely.
00:22Can I have a fruit cup?
00:24Can I have one?
00:25Yeah.
00:25My name is Zoe.
00:26And I'm Brian.
00:28And I am a mom of two.
00:30And I'm a homesteader in the jungle, on a volcano.
00:34This is my little sister, Rumi.
00:35This is Zoe, my mother.
00:37And she is sometimes awkward.
00:40And she posts videos online.
00:43She is a very smart woman.
00:45She is kind to her children.
00:47So how did you two meet?
00:49Oh, man.
00:49Oh, funny story.
00:50It's kind of a story.
00:51I was a door girl at a strip club back in Nevada.
00:55And he came in to apply to get a job.
01:00And I was like, oh, well, I hope you're
01:03going to get the job because you're really cute.
01:05When did you move to the big island and here?
01:07So during the pandemic, we kind of had the crazy idea,
01:13let's move to Hawaii.
01:14The whole goal the entire time was
01:15to be able to buy some land and build our own house
01:19and kind of live self-sustainably.
01:21Welcome to my farm.
01:22And I would love to give you guys a tour.
01:24So come follow me.
01:26I've got an abundance of birds.
01:28So don't mind them.
01:29You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you.
01:34We've got an abundance of fruit right
01:36now growing around our house.
01:38So this is our fully 100% off the grid house.
01:41We run everything off of solar.
01:43We collect our rainwater from our roof.
01:46We have 3,000 gallons of water in this area.
01:50And here is our indoor-outdoor kitchen.
01:53Beautiful.
01:53I get to cook outside with the birds chirping.
01:56And when the rain starts dumping,
01:58it's just really relaxing.
02:00We have every appliance that anybody
02:02really has in a standard home.
02:04We just don't pay the utility companies.
02:06So this is our bunk bed that my partner built.
02:10It works for us because I still co-sleep with my baby.
02:14How did you build this house?
02:15And how long it took?
02:16And who built it?
02:17It was just kind of us trying to build
02:20with the kids and the dog.
02:21And it was, it was so crazy.
02:24So pretty much everything was self-taught.
02:27I did have some help from friends
02:29who are in different industries, you know, with electrical.
02:32I'm proud of what we did.
02:33You know, we do have the occasional visitor.
02:38They like to lay their eggs in our sawdust bin.
02:41We've got our composting toilet, which
02:44is just a bucket and sawdust, which
02:46here's the eggs that the chickens like
02:48to leave me, a little Easter egg in the house.
02:50Whenever we have visitors, they kind of look at me like,
02:54oh, I have to use a bucket.
02:56What do the kids think about this lifestyle?
02:58Oh my gosh.
02:58Chickens in the bathroom.
03:00I think it's really natural for kids.
03:02I think living as a kid in the jungle is really fun.
03:05But they're very wild.
03:07I almost feel embarrassed sometimes
03:08when I take them out in public because of how crazy they are.
03:12I'm like, it's obvious that they live in the jungle
03:14sometimes because I'm like, my kids
03:16are the ones that's barefoot.
03:17What is unschooling?
03:18Unschooling is, let me facilitate
03:21what you want to learn.
03:22I'm not necessarily a teacher.
03:24Even though I'm educated, I'm college educated,
03:26I'm a facilitator to my children and their interests.
03:30It's all school and life lessons.
03:34I, growing up, learned about, I think,
03:39the most impractical things at her age.
03:42And I missed out on this type of learning.
03:48I didn't get burned enough times.
03:49I didn't know that meat turned brown.
03:52And I know it sounds simple, but like,
03:55even just cooking with your kids is a lesson in itself.
04:00Like, measurements, you can make it math.
04:02I mean, it's literally a science project.
04:04She loves making her own food.
04:05She can make scrambled eggs, her own peanut butter jelly,
04:08you know.
04:09You got a shovel?
04:10Yeah.
04:10You ready to process these bananas?
04:12Yeah.
04:13Let's go harvest them, OK?
04:15Do you want to stand back for one second?
04:17Can you count how many bananas are on here?
04:20Yeah.
04:20OK.
04:21One, two, three, four.
04:28Do you think this lifestyle could negatively
04:30impact your kids?
04:32Absolutely.
04:32So you're saying this lifestyle could negatively impact them?
04:36It could.
04:37I believe that this lifestyle could negatively
04:40impact anybody who is losing sight of the message.
04:46And the sight of the message is sustainability.
04:48If they're not raised in a way that's encouraging them
04:52to stay focused on positive things,
04:55they could definitely spiral into the negative parts
04:59of this lifestyle, which can be really depressing.
05:02And I want them to have the best foot forward.
05:05Give me a high five.
05:07Good job.
05:08So living on an active volcano might seem kind of stupid,
05:12I guess you would say.
05:13But I feel safer here than I do in the city.
05:16We have lava tubes that we have to be aware of.
05:19Basically, I mean, it can be anything
05:21from a big crack in the ground that goes to a void.
05:25So these can go down anywhere from 5 feet to 70 feet.
05:30So this is one of the bigger holes
05:32that we have on our property.
05:34Even though it looks nice and sturdy,
05:37there could literally be a leg-sized hole
05:39that you could slip in.
05:40We're trying to either fill them in or work with it.
05:43All of this here, I mean, it was all holes,
05:48deep holes, cracks in the ground, straight down lava.
05:51I mean, it's a miracle I'm able to even just walk
05:53so gracefully on top of it right now.
05:55I started posting online on a whim.
05:58I realized what a powerful tool it was.
05:59So I have kind of had a wide variety of responses.
06:03I think people are very opinionated these days
06:08on their keyboards.
06:09Some of the things that I think people have said negatively
06:13about my lifestyle has been always
06:16about my style of parenting.
06:18People have said just that I'm neglecting my kids,
06:21which is crazy to me because they have everything
06:23that they need.
06:24They're always around us.
06:25Motherhood gets people so mad.
06:27They're just like, how dare you feed your kid that?
06:30That's not a meal.
06:31You can't teach them that way.
06:33They're like, you're doing it wrong.
06:34It's not safe.
06:35It's like, OK.
06:36The data says different.
06:37The data says your city is unsafe.
06:39Have you had criticism about living
06:42on an active volcano?
06:43I think a lot of people are very animated when
06:47they think about volcanoes.
06:49And they think that, oh, there must be lava everywhere.
06:54It's a beautiful feature when the lava is erupting.
06:56When Mauna Loa just went off, it was
06:58like, let's get the kids in the car
07:00and let's go drive to go see it.
07:01Let's make it a homeschool lesson.
07:03People will buy a beachfront property and not bat an eye,
07:08even though tsunamis are a massive threat.
07:12Have you been criticized for your decisions
07:14regarding health care?
07:16I was a full-time patient for over a year
07:19trying to beat cancer.
07:20I had to go to radiation every single day for months.
07:24I had to go in for chemo infusions.
07:28And a lot of people are like, gosh,
07:30why didn't you do it the holistic, natural way?
07:32You're doing everything else the natural way.
07:34And it's like, when you are stage four, literally dying,
07:38I don't find myself to be hypocritical for choosing
07:43the Western route to save my life.
07:45It's part of why you don't like me on social media
07:47and why you don't want to be a part of it.
07:49I don't like the confrontation, you know?
07:51And how it made me feel.
07:53I know in my heart, deep down in there,
07:56that it doesn't matter what people say.
07:58The big message here is being true to yourself.
08:01And so as the kids get older, embracing who they want to be
08:06and directing them towards positive things in life.
08:09I feel really good about this life.
08:11I wouldn't trade it for the world.
08:13I love you.
08:14I love you, too.
08:15Thanks for doing this crazy life with me.
08:17Thanks for talking me into it.
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