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00:00:00anyone that lives in interior alaska knows this is the land of extremes earthquakes forest fires
00:00:11and winters can be deadly right now it's record heat that hasn't occurred in 30 years last year
00:00:22we met a single mom and her kids facing challenges that have been caused by mother nature and now
00:00:29it's worse so how can I help this family one more time one year ago hey the rainies responded to an
00:00:41urgent plea from the Adams family this last year was pretty devastating I'm not one to normally
00:00:47ask for help facing the epic challenge of deadly wildfires destructive flooding the water will come
00:00:54up in a matter of hours and a lack of a clean water source they don't have enough water to survive here
00:01:01the rainies helped them maintain their foothold in the unforgiving wilderness
00:01:08but now new existential threats have jeopardized their survival the last earthquake that we had
00:01:19caused damage to the water line as alaska's wild frontier the bear was against the house yeah
00:01:26and worsening wildfires that is truly frightening close in on them from all sides
00:01:34on this episode it's basically a bomb marty returns to the Adams's failing homestead
00:01:43the thought of giving everything up it crushes me in a hail mary attempt
00:01:50we're burning daylight to bring new hope back to the family we're gonna go so much further now
00:02:05let's leave civilization behind off grid no power lines no people except one
00:02:12Marty is returning to a homestead in Alaska's perilous interior a region with extreme weather shifts
00:02:21and deadly forces of nature during the last month Alaska recorded more than 3200 earthquakes with a
00:02:31magnitude 5.3 quake recorded just a mile away while the nearby McDonald fire wreaks havoc displacing residents
00:02:40and driving animals and driving animals from their habitats
00:02:43it's in this unpredictable environment that Marty encounters the Adams family
00:02:49threatened by mother nature once again
00:02:55hey you nice to see you again it's just
00:02:59me no kids okay nice to see you again Charlie Dax very nice to see you guys are a little bit taller yeah
00:03:08what do you know 15 20 12 oh sorry what are you're 18 20 10 what 10 oh well sorry you looked older
00:03:17what better example than Christy Adams is there when it comes to homesteading a single mom of three
00:03:24kids she's a worker she's smart and she's capable all of the work all of the chores the responsibility the load
00:03:33is on her shoulders alone and the kids it's a beautiful sunny day in Alaska it does not look
00:03:41like you guys have any problems we have a few my name is Christy Adams and I live in interior Alaska my
00:03:55homestead is 20 acres total and we're completely off the grid I like that the last time the rainies
00:04:03were here it was such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity there's water dripping off that bucket
00:04:09they gave us all these awesome upgrades the garden you will have a never-ending supply of food the
00:04:17well look down in there oh wow it's like water the rainies were really helpful we built the food for it
00:04:29all right Dax this is canned food for when the winter gets kind of tough and now we use it for
00:04:37food canning and processing the garden is growing very well there's so much food the rabbits are all
00:04:47grown up and we recently had baby bunnies and all the wood that the rainies gave us really helped us get
00:04:57through winter and it made us more prepared but nothing could truly prepare the family for interior
00:05:07Alaska's unpredictable nature earthquakes are just a normal part of Alaska life there's a strange little
00:05:15fault line that runs out here a couple miles away and we get a lot of earthquake activity from it and
00:05:21when they're that close they feel much bigger the last earthquake that we had that big one caused
00:05:28damage to the water line and so I had to replumb in our holding tank we ran well lines over the ground
00:05:35just temporarily to refill the holding tank and now that we use more water that means more gray water
00:05:41that goes out onto the ground and that little culvert just hasn't been able to keep up anymore making a big
00:05:46pond over on the side of our house the contamination in the water that's been a big concern the fear of
00:05:53it coming into the house is another concern winter is constantly in the back of our minds we have to put
00:06:02our animals into a small greenhouse that is not heated just to keep them alive we've probably lost
00:06:09five litters of rabbits just due to the cold another challenge this year was forest fires we had a
00:06:16really big fire that was about three miles away overall it's burned about a hundred and eighty
00:06:20thousand acres when it got really close we were under evacuation ready orders and it was pretty
00:06:28terrifying and today we can still smell it there's so many challenges and I'm just left being spread
00:06:35really thin but I love homesteading it's my everything my mom really needs help because she never has
00:06:43enough time to work on the homestead we really need Marty back
00:06:48so we were fine till February so it withstood all the cold temperatures and then we had some earthquakes and the water just quit pumping
00:06:58so did you have to go back to hauling water well we did for a little bit and then once it warmed up enough that things weren't freezing we ran these water lines from the well on the ground
00:07:09well I'm really I'm not happy to hear this we gave them life we gave them water but now the water
00:07:18situation is dangerous they're not gonna make it through another winter here we're back where we
00:07:24started what's this over here that's my attempt at rain catchment this was actually what saved me this
00:07:31year because I couldn't get out with our water trailer to get water because the road was so bad but the snow melt
00:07:37off the roof gave me about 300 gallons to get me through until the road dried up but the water quality
00:07:43in there is really disgusting do you have any filtration no okay did anybody come look at it
00:07:50yeah Josh a local guy that owns Wiese Mechanical he jumped right in and said we'll come out and help
00:07:57he has this tubing that he runs and he ran it through the line and it pumps from which direction he did both
00:08:03directions so he came from the house mm-hmm and he came from the well right there yeah why does
00:08:10he think the water line failed he does think it could have been from the earthquakes we had a good
00:08:15couple days of non-stop earthquakes really yeah due to its tectonic volcanic and ice related activity
00:08:24Alaska records more earthquakes than any other state in the country and while modern infrastructure
00:08:32can withstand intense shaking newer precautions like road retrofitting haven't made their way to
00:08:39some regions of higher risk including rural areas or remote locations making each new quake
00:08:48potentially devastating and what is this that wasn't here last time that's where our gray water comes
00:08:58out of the house but because we have the well now and we have such a easy access to water we use more
00:09:03water and so now our little gray water French drain that we had set up can't handle the sheer amount of
00:09:09water that's coming out of the house from showers and the washer and the sink we designed a small system to
00:09:17accept the water that she was hauling but the water that we've introduced through the well and now her
00:09:23temporary line is too much water and there's a cesspool right outside the front door it's unsafe it's
00:09:31unsanitary and it's unacceptable I have to say you guys probably have one of the coolest rabbit hutches
00:09:38ever mm-hmm right more importantly have predators bothered these rabbits yeah me index were home
00:09:46alone and then a black bear came and got one of them when was this a couple days ago I heard something
00:09:56on the wall the bear was against the house no yeah okay where was your mom in town I told mom and she
00:10:04said to go get the shotgun off the porch I went and I shot two firing shots and I screamed and threw
00:10:10rocks at him and he didn't flinch at all now that's a bad sign yeah what happened next he was like pouncing
00:10:18the rabbit and I killed it you killed the bear would I recommend a 12 year old be able to handle a shotgun
00:10:29probably not but that bear would be coming to this house for the rest of his days so honestly there
00:10:37really was only one fix for this problem and it was a 12 year old that was confident enough skilled enough
00:10:44to do what had to be done I'm sorry that the bear died but this is a bear that would probably try to
00:10:51crawl through a window break glass get through the door just to get to the food he has no fear I'll
00:10:57guarantee you there was no stopping that bear from coming back all right kids let's talk where was this
00:11:09bear he got in here so he just ripped this out of the way yeah do you have a video of any of this any
00:11:17pictures you do may I see it oh my gosh it's a pretty healthy bear actually that bear is big enough to
00:11:29cause some damage it's not all bad news here I had the kids take me over to the rabbit hutch and Misty's
00:11:36garden and show me the improvements in the last year and a half
00:11:42okay so she's doing bale gardening yes the only downside with the bales is you need to use so much
00:11:48water yeah everything looks really dry look at this like oh man like crusty dry they don't have a well and
00:11:59and things like keeping livestock and gardens alive is a real struggle so there's just a little
00:12:06bit of life not enough quite to feed a family of three but you can grow a ton of stuff especially in
00:12:14interior Alaska where's the main rabbit hutch oh right here we have some baby ones there's babies uh-huh no
00:12:25way don't tell anybody but I really do like little baby bunnies can I see one yeah oh my goodness can we
00:12:35hold one yeah this one's named Bobby come here Bobby these things are cute yeah oh my gosh hey I have a
00:12:44question how come the bear didn't get in this pin uh there's the door there and he was pushing on it but
00:12:51he didn't he tried to get in and then he found an easier gate over there if a bear couldn't get in
00:12:58here good job you saved all these bunnies you guys have been taking them out of here and relocating over
00:13:04in that building for a while during the cold snaps so guys I'm really glad you showed me these babies
00:13:10because I think we should come up with a plan so they survive they're protected from bears and they're
00:13:15protected from cold weather I want to look at this well a little bit closer okay well a year ago you
00:13:31were standing here mm-hmm and you were really happy because we've developed the well grab that door
00:13:37handle please okay look down in there oh wow the recovery is insane it's at least 11 gallons a
00:13:45minute wow I mean it's just huge on every level yeah water's life here we are a year later and I'm
00:13:53not happy because we've got some issues huh yeah so everything worked fine until February mm-hmm
00:14:00temperatures had reached 66 degrees below zero and it was working yep okay and then all of a sudden one
00:14:07day you went to get a glass of water wash dishes and nothing came out my first thought was that the
00:14:12line was frozen that comes out of the ground into the house because that's the most susceptible spot
00:14:17that's what I would check I'm sorry that's pretty vulnerable yep so what you're looking at now is the
00:14:23worst case scenario a water line that comes out of the ground that's exposed to the elements this would
00:14:30freeze the very first night that it dipped below 32 degrees at this point it's kind of a hail Mary just
00:14:38grab fiberglass insulation and plastic and wrap it around the pipe I want to protect this line as much
00:14:47as I can every little bit is gonna help us so I ran the heater on it and it's still no water came out so
00:14:57then I pulled the line apart and I dropped a little weighted rock on a string down the pipe and it went all
00:15:03the way down so I knew that the freeze wasn't there you're smart got to be resourceful very cool then I
00:15:10did come out here and I looked to make sure that there was no ice in it it was all good and thawed the
00:15:15water was open at the bottom of the well and I called up Josh he thinks there's an area where something went
00:15:20wrong from the earthquakes yeah a year later no water a disgusting cesspool bears earthquakes we've got a
00:15:33lot of work to get done on this homestead all right come on not to mention down the road has a meter and it's red line
00:15:40mm-hmm extreme fire danger I smell smoke that's the McDonald fire three miles that is truly frightening
00:15:51I have a feeling that they're pushing bears this way we have to protect these animals now
00:15:55hey guys I smell smoke yeah I noticed there was ash on my hood of my truck hours into Marty's return
00:16:17to the Adams's 20 acre Alaskan property the danger of life in interior Alaska rears its head that's the
00:16:26McDonald fire that's been burning out here for a month and a half now it came really close yeah is
00:16:32that where there's most coming from yes just now I noticed the smoke it's pretty crazy there's a
00:16:41a million square miles of black spruce and branches are just dry firefighters refer to this as gasoline on
00:16:54a torch so I found an update this morning it says the fire remains active and may produce smoke every
00:17:00summer it seems like half the state's burning but this one's pretty close how close did it get three
00:17:05miles and it's still going yeah it's smoldering the nearby McDonald fire has been raging for close to
00:17:13two months burning almost 200,000 acres of Alaskan land and continues to blaze due to the summer's warm
00:17:22dry weather and the region's abundance of black spruce trees as the intensity grows and the winds shift local
00:17:31firefighters have had trouble controlling the flames and now split their time between two other fires
00:17:37totaling almost 635,000 acres torched so they had us on a ready evacuation status and you're kidding me
00:17:50yeah holy moly that is truly frightening where were you guys at I'm in the house the whole time and then
00:17:59could you hear it uh-huh what's it sound like it's just like a big roaring it almost sounds
00:18:04like a jet for real we've never had one that close before so we were all frantic trying to get pens and
00:18:12cages and kennels and things together so that way if they said we had to go we could have all the
00:18:16animals up and out of here in a moment's notice then all we could do is wait and so what happened
00:18:22it died down luckily a year ago we were surprised to see that this homestead didn't have a defensible
00:18:29space I'm gonna probably start right over there and work my way around one year ago this is the
00:18:37chainsaw party let's start cutting the threat of wildfire forced the rainies to carve a firebreak
00:18:44around the homestead structures I'd like to be on the other side of the homestead near the garden just
00:18:49cutting down all those little trees get them away from your house and create a garden space absolutely
00:18:54these are called ladder fuels heat rises it literally sucks the flames and everything right
00:19:01up the tree every spruce tree in this type of black spruce forest has it the amount of trees they took out
00:19:08and the sheer volume of firewood that we have right now oh my gosh the bad trees are gone we have much
00:19:15more defensible space that's gonna make me sleep easier at night knowing that our risk of having
00:19:21a wildfire do a lot of severe damage is is lessened now she dodged a bullet but I don't think we took
00:19:30enough away I'm thinking that we need to push this defensible space back further
00:19:37yeah Marty will clear a new 20-foot firebreak perimeter before starting the other crucial work on the
00:19:51homestead I want to get started with the waterline but everywhere I look there's more immediate threats
00:20:00to this homestead right now Christie's homestead is vulnerable to forest fires so we're cutting 20 feet
00:20:10away of black spruce giving them extra protection between the wilderness and the homestead
00:20:18with the fire danger mitigated for now Marty turns his attention to another immediate threat
00:20:26to the homestead so show me exactly where that bear was scratching on the house please right here
00:20:32he was scratching right about here he even chipped it right here yikes were you looking out this window
00:20:38and where was he he was like around this area kind of he was right here he was just walking around
00:20:46looking for food the bear was after the animal feed and the animals themselves now I know that I need to
00:20:54put our animals away and our food away from other animals who want to eat it scratched on the house
00:21:02couldn't get in and now he's going to the garden the garden why do you think he came this direction
00:21:09the rabbits and the quail are in here exactly I'm so incredibly proud of Dax taking down that bear he's a
00:21:17confident kid but in a situation like that most anybody's going to lose their cool and even Charlie
00:21:23she kept it collected and I think his coolness was playing off of her so together the both of
00:21:29them made an awesome team and it's a proud mom moment for sure on top of it the fires that happened
00:21:35out there I have a feeling that they're pushing them this way oh yeah that's a really good point
00:21:39actually that could be impacting why you're seeing them more now Alaska has over a hundred thousand black bears
00:21:47over thirty thousand brown bears the bear that visited this homestead was looking for dinner and
00:21:54it was going to do anything to get it Alaska is bear country being home to nearly one hundred forty
00:22:02thousand black brown and polar bears and during most of the year they can be frequently sighted grazing in
00:22:10forests or salmon fishing in rivers but because bears are attracted to improperly stored food or
00:22:17garbage displacement from their habitats by earthquakes or fires drives them towards homes increasing the
00:22:25number of potentially dangerous encounters with humans let's talk a little bit now knowing the local
00:22:34fires are driving bears towards homes Marty's first priority is to ensure the safety of the family's
00:22:41food sources once the kids told me that the rabbits were dying in the winter and from bears in this
00:22:47neighborhood I realized that these rabbits need to be somewhere other than that rabbit hutch to survive
00:22:55here we need to figure out a plan to make a safe protected refuge for the animals on this homestead so
00:23:06the kids and I recently added quail to our cast of homestead characters with the chickens and rabbits we're
00:23:12using them for meat and for eggs copy so we have a great space for them in the garden out there in the
00:23:17summertime but come wintertime we don't have any place to put them we've just been kind of throwing them in
00:23:22the greenhouse with the rabbits okay what time of winter does it get so cold that the rabbits and
00:23:27the quail have to be moved into this building when it gets below freezing is when we move them into
00:23:31a little freezing is October yeah you move them in here for the whole winter yeah I had no idea was
00:23:39there enough room in there no oh I see what's going on once a bear like that starts getting into
00:23:45livestock they're just going to keep coming back and they're going to become a bigger nuisance until
00:23:49something really bad happens and now that we have bears eating the rabbits we need to figure out a
00:23:54way to ensure the safety of the animals but make sure that they're warm and safe through winter as
00:23:59well I think it's pretty straightforward why don't we just move them in here full-time close this in and I
00:24:07think we probably should insulate it providing housing for the really cold temperatures and
00:24:11protection from bear encounters you're just trying to give these animals a fighting chance when it gets
00:24:1720 30 below someone's got to move that firewood guess who it's not going to be me guess who it might
00:24:25be you okay you know what to do hey you know what to do it's up to you start stacking wood Marty has
00:24:34tasked Christy with framing in her old woodshed to build a 10 by 20 foot bear proof shelter first she
00:24:43and a small build crew will construct two wall additions reinforcing them with additional lumber next
00:24:50they'll add insulation to the walls and flooring ensuring warmth year-round and finally they'll
00:24:57install a steel door sturdy enough to keep bears out and protect the animals within we've got our work
00:25:06cut out for us if we're going to protect these animals from bears and the brutal winters and now
00:25:14with forest fires driving in bears we've got to get busy and get some things done here back to work
00:25:22let's go here we go it's the second day of the re-rescue of the Adams's 20 acre homestead and while
00:25:39progress continues on the bear proof shelter Marty tackles the health hazard outside the family's home
00:25:47when we met Christy she had a little barrel and it was adequate in size to accommodate all the gray
00:25:55water from her cabin when we left we upgraded let's go quick follow me quick we installed this culver's for
00:26:06her gray water before she had a barrel so we thought we'd go the extra mile take the top of what we cut
00:26:12off the well and give her a really cool gray water catchment would you like to die of typhoid not me but
00:26:23even that wasn't enough for all of the water coming out of that brand new well so I can't really be patting
00:26:31myself on the back right now because we've created a problem and we got to figure out how to get that
00:26:36water safely underground where it's not a health hazard to the family let's work on the gray a
00:26:43little bit because we're going to be down there working gray water makes up 65 percent of the
00:26:49wastewater generated from households and doesn't contain fecal matter but is made up of runoff from
00:26:56sinks dishwashers showers or washing machines and because the matter contains harmful chemicals and a
00:27:03high bacteria count the water isn't potable or environmentally safe for sewage systems unless
00:27:09first treated making proper disposal a high priority for homesteaders that's a hazardous waste site we'll put
00:27:20it right here in the bottom of this hole we'll get rid of all the contaminated dirt and craziness and
00:27:26then we'll start on the water line everything green and gray has got to go hello oh who'd you bring I
00:27:44I brought Josh Josh and his wife Amanda how you doing nice to meet you sir nice to meet you Josh and
00:27:52Amanda yes sir nice to meet you both Josh and Amanda are two community members Josh owns Wiese Mechanical
00:28:01Josh came out here and spent three days trying to figure out what was wrong with the well line I mean
00:28:06he climbed in the well at below zero temperatures trying to get it thawed out just running hot water
00:28:11through it as long as he could they're both a special kind of people I'm thinking sir according
00:28:16to Christy this was also the scene of the crime I believe so it just sounds suspicious to me that
00:28:21this entire system works nothing froze out there which blows my mind and nothing froze where we entered you
00:28:28know went from the ground into the house yeah if we're getting rock or glacial silt you know we had
00:28:34the earthquakes last year I had a lot of wells that got pinched and shifted from that so you're telling
00:28:44me that the earthquakes are playing a role suspiciously compromising water lines and wells absolutely
00:28:50when the ground shifts you know if it shifts over here but it doesn't on one side that's where you get
00:28:58where the pipe will pinch off or it'll break it or rock and get pinched on it I mean there's there's
00:29:03several different things that can happen to it copy that Christy is very fortunate to have somebody
00:29:09like Josh that will drop what he's doing at 10 20 30 below zero and try to figure out why the water's
00:29:16not working he thinks maybe one of the earthquakes last winter broke that line but we got to get past
00:29:24the theory aspect and we have to find out exactly what happened here we don't know for sure though if it
00:29:31was frozen if it was broken if it's related to all this ground water that got right down around the
00:29:40insulation that was supposed to protect the water line I'm just thinking of the craziest things that
00:29:47can happen could have happened right here mm-hmm that's what I'm thinking you had almost a perfect storm
00:29:51here we're gonna solve that problem right now we're gonna scrape down and we should be breaking up foam
00:30:07and then we'll look at it hopefully we don't break the water line we don't know whether it's frozen or
00:30:12broken or whatever but what I do know is that if I can't solve this problem there's no water there's
00:30:18nothing for this family hey Chris can you nose around a little bit should be a water line in there
00:30:26somewhere Chris what do you see there it is Christy all right come on over check this out there's
00:30:43something bugging me oh there it is so as you can see we've got the line exposed right here mm-hmm
00:30:50we covered it with foam and then we put the plastic over the foam okay there's no way in 10 lifetimes this
00:30:59should have ever froze no way unless all this water going down into the ground in summer I mean in
00:31:10wintertime it's going down to the ground and freezing and then we add more water it's finding a place to go
00:31:14and it's freezing yeah and could it have gone all the way down to here and froze it could have it would
00:31:21be the first time I've ever even heard of this ever happening okay Alaska has earthquakes and harsh
00:31:29winters and those could be literally a legitimate reason for the lack of water but if I was a betting
00:31:37man I'll put my money on the water line freezing that said here's the plan now we'll go hook up the
00:31:44pump to this water line we'll get power to the pump fire it off and then we'll turn on a sink in
00:31:51the house if water goes in there like normal problem solved if no water goes in there and
00:31:57the pumps pumping away we might have a broken line and then that's going to be difficult to find and we
00:32:03might be digging up your whole yard but trust me we'll find it let's go okay
00:32:07Marty will reconnect the original water line back into the house to test whether or not the line
00:32:15froze if water comes through it confirms the line was frozen from the gray water seepage and he'll
00:32:22re-insulate the affected portion if no water is pumped through there might be a pinch or leak due to
00:32:30the earthquake damage and he'll have to dig up the entire line to locate it creating a costly and
00:32:37time-consuming project it could take days to complete all right and it's okay if I come in yeah absolutely
00:32:45all right when I found out that the water line was no longer working I had to replumb in our holding
00:32:53tank so that disconnected the well from the house for the summer we've ran well lines over the ground just
00:33:00temporarily to refill the holding tank and it's just going to freeze in the winter time and so now
00:33:05what Marty and I are trying to do is bypass the holding tank so that way we can at least run the
00:33:10generator and see if water is going to come through the line hey Chris fire up the Jenny and let's see
00:33:16if we have water to the house all right okay
00:33:30after going through this winter on my ice it's not good it's not good I don't see anything I don't hear anything I'm not happy
00:33:39fire up to jenny and let's see if we have water to the house
00:33:47okay
00:33:51after going through this winter on my own i felt pretty overwhelmed whether it's water freezing
00:34:04or the gray water flooding it's been a constant battle and if we can't get water we can't get
00:34:10through winter that's not good i don't see anything i don't hear anything i'm not happy
00:34:17oh
00:34:18i don't think it's broke
00:34:27it's not broke boom we don't have to dig anything up the good news is the water line hasn't been
00:34:36broken by an earthquake so if we can come up with another plan for the discharge from this house
00:34:42that water line will never freeze i don't care how cold it gets that's a tremendous amount of water
00:34:49there's no crack in the line yep and i think we need to shut it off shut it off water shot out of
00:34:57the pipe in the bathroom so that means that the water line is not broken and this is just the
00:35:05relief so five gallons a minute that's amazing considering that a year ago we were hauling water
00:35:11at 200 gallons at a time thank goodness we got the water line figured out because last year we
00:35:19breathed life into this homestead by striking water which was a life-changing moment it changed everything
00:35:27there's water dripping off that bucket yeah there's water running in running in how deep is it sir
00:35:40gee the water is rising 18 foot everybody come around please
00:35:49all right so you can see what i did yep i reached as far as i could just about to give up and look
00:36:00over that edge please whoa
00:36:04i don't even know what to say that's just life-changing well i'll tell you this i don't think you're
00:36:34going to be packing water anymore i'm serious seeing my kids cry really brings it home just just how
00:36:43much not having the water has been difficult for them and not have to be concerned with rationing it
00:36:49or how much we're using at any given time that's a whole it's a whole new world for us
00:36:55solved one problem created another now we got to figure out what to do with this gray water
00:37:01yeah i still have a hole in the ground we've got to figure out the gray water and save all of the
00:37:08animals on this homestead and now we're in complete cowboy mode my goal was to fix it before the sun
00:37:17went down this is alaska the sun doesn't go down exactly
00:37:21it did over by the former woodshed
00:37:34let's talk
00:37:36marty checks on the progress of the new bear proof animal shelter
00:37:41this looks amazing you guys are really going fast
00:37:44where'd you find this window at found it on the property same with the door
00:37:48you found a door too yep steel door good man this bear came to the homestead it smelled rabbit
00:37:55then the bear sauntered over to the garden he tried to get in there he broke the fence and it killed a
00:38:01rabbit so we'll put a door on this barn made out of steel and that will definitely help them with
00:38:08protection from bears in this neighborhood this is a lot of progress i like it
00:38:13yeah there's still some work to do i'm gonna be able to insulate it anything you need from me
00:38:20nope all right we're gonna attack the next problem now
00:38:31while building continues on the livestock fortification
00:38:34shut that thing off i gotta show you some stuff here please at the new well marty discovers an
00:38:42unexpected health risk so that water line freezing just started more and more problems take a whiff
00:38:52these straw bales are all moldy wouldn't be feeding that to my mules
00:38:56uh yeah it's it's gross and check this out
00:39:03all right clint look at this look really close see can you see all these guys yeah i don't even
00:39:10know what that bug is there's millions of them though also you're not gonna like this ready
00:39:15oh man so mice are getting here yeah this has been bugging me because every problem we're looking at
00:39:27mice poop mites ants voles all of it is because the water line froze all that gray water got through our
00:39:36culvert through the big rock down into the ground deep enough to compromise the water line
00:39:42so pretty sure this all would have been all would have been avoided if we just
00:39:49had addressed a design for the gray water that could accommodate all this new water right that said
00:39:56we're gonna have to get rid of the insulation get rid of the straw bales we'll pump the water up
00:40:02and then we'll shock it with some bleach until it's clean and start all over so here we go again
00:40:12so enclosing the barn isn't even completed yet and these guys are already claiming it as their own
00:40:26what are you guys doing
00:40:31at the site of the well
00:40:35marty and christy worked to insulate and restore the family's water source
00:40:43all right so before we put this last piece on here i want to know if you think this is better than
00:40:48straw bales they do it's gonna keep the voles out of it and keep the bugs the voles yeah crazy insects
00:40:56when did you put the straw bales in here last fall less than a year and they're already moldy okay this
00:41:03stuff will never mold all right i'll hold that for if you want to pin it the hay bales for insulation did
00:41:10well for us the only downside to it was the voles loved it and then the concern started to become
00:41:18them falling into the well and then contaminating our water how do you feel about putting a insulated
00:41:25plug right inside that culvert we can capture that heat and that water from the ground and not allow the
00:41:32cold to get down in there to compromise the water i like it i think it worked this idea that marty had
00:41:40was to use styrofoam insulation and i honestly think that that will probably do even better last winter was
00:41:47really hard and as a single mom and trying to do it just myself and the two kids i've really been
00:41:52questioning if we were going to be able to continue on but all of these upgrades that we're getting right
00:41:58now are things that are going to secure our future i really like that being on the top like that
00:42:10my only concern is getting it out um what would you do put some kind of little handle on it exactly
00:42:19you have any wire or rope or we could take some bailing twine off one of those bales over there
00:42:25that's a good idea you know how to cut bailing twine okay watch this there's some good string
00:42:32right there you got a knife on you i don't uh-huh all right i want you to go like this
00:42:38and i want you to saw back and forth oh wow all right all right see if you can cut that
00:42:44and get us a piece please okay all right
00:42:46oh it's working oh wow oh watch this need string take that over there that's great meet you there
00:43:01i think that we use earth to help us insulate this so i get the excavator and i mound this up to a foot
00:43:10below there that's a great idea all the way around and then we're this close to hopefully having an
00:43:16insulated well yeah thanks here we go
00:43:29christy has truly impressed me
00:43:31i like that a lot terrific with her work ethic and constantly thinking about the future here
00:43:42and last time i was here i had a little chat with christy to build her confidence
00:43:48okay so you had a dream to move out into the remote wilds of alaska yeah you've done it
00:43:55yeah it's a great lifestyle i love it i live it but it's not for everyone because it's not easy
00:44:03right it's interesting that even trying to get all the ducks in order you may be at the mercy of mother
00:44:08nature yep every time so on that note just know that i've had all these struggles myself
00:44:17i can relate and empathize and that's very validating to hear from somebody that's been doing
00:44:24it for years it makes me feel like you know there's always still going to be a struggle i'm never
00:44:29going to get it perfected no but it's not easy doing it by yourself yeah and every time i talk to you
00:44:38there's this consistent this is my life this is where i'm raising my kids and there's never a hint of
00:44:46wanting to quit oh no it's what my kids love it's what i love it's where we want to be i'm impressed
00:44:52you're tough thank you marty's kind words
00:45:02that's a big confidence booster and it's it's a lot of help that's just as helpful as you know
00:45:09picking up a hammer and doing something is helping me feel more confident in what i'm doing and i'm
00:45:15doing it right with the well insulation finished marty turns his attention to the compromised waterline
00:45:25i'm trying to get the waterline back together and safe so that it will never be compromised so we need
00:45:47to dig out the waterline rip out all the foam and then we're going to re-insulate it
00:45:54i wouldn't be so nervous but last time i was here i thought i hit permafrost right about here
00:45:59this thing there might be ice right there look is that frost
00:46:14oh my gosh look at this this is ice like solid ice and it's kind of everywhere you could like ice
00:46:28skate over here oh man it's like a swamp is it just frozen ground from the winter or is it permafrost
00:46:38let me get the excavator and see if i can get through this and see what the layers actually are
00:46:51best how much of that looks frozen
00:46:57oh this is frozen we're dealing with like a foot of ice it stops here and then it's all sandy it's not
00:47:05permafrost but it's a foot of frozen ground it's going to take another month for this top layer to
00:47:11thaw out so what do you want to do the good news is it's not permafrost but gold miners in alaska
00:47:20peel back tundra which is that insulating layer let the ground thaw for a year then come back in mine
00:47:28but i don't have time to wait around what about trying to dig up the ice and put it over there
00:47:35and then when it does thaw out it's not in the garden well here i go wow dad this is like way better
00:47:47now fully exposed come on back please marty and clint work quickly to finish protecting the water line
00:47:55for good stop thank you all right so there's nobody in alaska that works on a water line
00:48:06without putting foam over the top which we did originally when we put this water line in
00:48:12it's one thing to make a discovery but now we've got to develop it in this state of alaska at least
00:48:19eight feet deep is where your water line better be we've got water we've got a hundred foot trench
00:48:26about nine feet deep we've got a water line on the bottom of that trench but just to give it that
00:48:32added insurance so that it doesn't freeze we put two inch foam and they say that two inches of foam
00:48:42equates to two feet of dirt we've done everything we can do to protect this line from freezing i always
00:48:50like to put plastic over the foam sometimes this foam is broken so i just want to capture and hold
00:48:58all that thermal mass from underneath and protect that water line from freezing we can't go to all
00:49:03this trouble and discover this beautiful source of water and let it freeze
00:49:08but now we've dug some of it up so we'll cover it with repurposed
00:49:17free cycle three inch foam anybody in alaska that would turn down a piece of foam even if it was broken
00:49:24and used wouldn't be a real alaskan we'll figure a way to piece it together we'll cover it with six
00:49:29mil plastic the water line will be better protected with three inch foam where it won't freeze again
00:49:39christy yeah okay couple things you ready yeah we'll go ahead and re-insulate the water line
00:49:47and we'll bury it okay but for now we just need to get this insulation in the ground right would you
00:49:55please hand me uh some of that foam yeah first
00:49:57thank you marty's been putting a lot of work into making sure that what happened last winter doesn't
00:50:06happen again and then he's taken big steps to add insulation and then plastic so that the frost can't
00:50:13get down that deep done what's going to happen winter's going to come it's going to freeze this clay area
00:50:22like that but now with six inches of foam it's never going to get to that water line okay taking
00:50:30the cause of it away is step number one so that's just additional okay step number two
00:50:36is figuring out something for this gray water system right would you do me a favor and backfill this
00:50:41yeah thank you
00:50:43second clint fills that hole up he's going to dig another hole and it's going to be the new
00:50:58location for a gray water treatment center and now hopefully christy can reach out to the community
00:51:07and help find something big enough for this homestead what that is i don't have a clue
00:51:14every time i see an old fuel tank i'm reminded that people die trying to cut a hole in here with a
00:51:20grinder what i can't use it let's start cutting
00:51:34with only 48 hours left in the re-rescue of the adams's homestead christy races on the new space for
00:51:42the animals the old food fort while marty checks the progress on the homestead's food preservation fort
00:51:51everything's still good yep does it leak is it strong oh yeah who built it me and matt exactly wow looks
00:52:00great so now that we've repaired the water line i want to know if there's room for dax to break out
00:52:09there on his own and take some ownership on some projects and i was actually impressed these guys have
00:52:15been busy that's because our 12 year old homesteader dax learned a lot from matt what i'm proposing is
00:52:23like a meat processing canning cabin one year ago matt passed down essential skills to dax you ready yep so
00:52:34he could help carry the load of the homestead this homestead has lost some meat over the years because they
00:52:40haven't had a proper sanitary place to process and store their food so that when the winter hits
00:52:47they'll have a reliable source of protein hold it down full black there you go jeez
00:52:52huh i said jeez it's really important for me to help my mom with our homestead so i am looking
00:53:02forward to matt teaching me new skills okay you ready yep now we're gonna move into rabbit meat so
00:53:09misty built like a rabbit hutch yeah and you're gonna have a lot of rabbit meat in your future so we put
00:53:16this in the salt brine for about 30 to 45 minutes taking dax step by step through the canning process
00:53:24is i think life-changing for him and everyone on the homestead christy needs a lot of help and now
00:53:31dax could be right in there taking over and sharing a lot of that burden now all we got to do is put
00:53:36them in our pressure cookers and then we'll start cooking now that i learned how to can meat and process
00:53:43it now i feel a lot more confident about having food through the winter and just year-round oh my
00:53:52goodness you're right this is a food fort do you process any animals yeah we we've done some rabbits
00:54:00and a little bit of moose in here i haven't spent a lot of time with the kids but in the short time
00:54:06i've been here i've seen growth i've seen a transformation but i want to make sure dax is
00:54:14stepping up to the plate to take care of all these chores so what's the process here if you have moose
00:54:20meat or a rabbit so you take pressure cooker put over here some water in it coffee and then you put
00:54:30moose and some salt in this jar cut it up right here and then we put it in here like that with
00:54:36some water that's amazing and how old are you 12. we use the food for it for canning and processing it's
00:54:46really helpful for my mom and you do all this yeah with mom you're the coolest kid ever matt's
00:54:53going to be so proud i'm going to give matt a report of how cool the building is how clean it is
00:54:59and how you're helping mom pretty cool captain let's go
00:55:03you need an elbow if you got one a three-quarter back inside the adams's house that's promising
00:55:16marty rushes to finish plumbing in the clean potable water if i turn the water on right now what happens
00:55:22it's going to come out of this line right here okay this is the line coming out from outside
00:55:30um so that's going to need to go in here we have to get from three quarters down to half inch pecs
00:55:37that's okay last time i was here there was a composting toilet here so what are you doing
00:55:41for a toilet now um we do honey buckets in the winter time and we just use the outhouse in the
00:55:46summer okay when it's too cold to go outside we use a honey bucket which is just a five gallon bucket
00:55:52with a toilet seat lid and then we have to empty it quite regularly if you miss it all it freezes
00:55:58instantly it's gross you're happy with this pressure tank and this system yeah what if someday
00:56:04you wanted to put a toilet in here this is where the toilet goes or is there another place one could
00:56:08go uh no i would go right here christie says the temperature got down to 66 below that's too cold for
00:56:16the kids during the winter time so even though i have a list of things that i need to get done i can't
00:56:23leave this homestead without fixing the problem we might be saying goodbye to the outhouse you get
00:56:31the fittings i'll get a bucket okay meet you right here all right okay
00:56:38hey uh i have a question later that day where did this come from um so that showed up last night
00:56:46marty finds a potential solution to his gray water troubles my boyfriend is doing a job for a
00:56:52neighbor down the way and he had this just lying around on his property and coincidentally said hey
00:56:58you're welcome to have that if you want it how'd they get it here um he used an excavator to pick it up
00:57:06so i come to the homestead this morning and i'm looking at a 1 000 gallon tank meaning christie came
00:57:13through for us the good news is this i can use it certainly have learned that you know the old
00:57:20tank culvert wasn't yeah large enough right the bad news is there's no question in my mind that this is
00:57:26an old fuel tank every time i see an old fuel tank i'm reminded that people die you know trying to cut a
00:57:36hole in here with a grinder or with a cutting torch i am a risk taker and i've got guts
00:57:43but i don't want to see them okay while fuel tanks range in size they all contain highly combustible
00:57:52and explosive substances making the act of repurposing tanks dangerous if not properly cleaned or
00:58:00neutralized and even with the contents disposed of residue and vapors can long remain providing a
00:58:07significant risk if not properly monitoring a tank's carbon oxygen or nitrogen levels
00:58:15even though it's really old it smells like
00:58:20yeah it smells like old fuel right there you want to give it a whiff sure
00:58:24yeah what's this one smell like it does it smells it smells rusty here's the thing we're going to have
00:58:29to cut a hole in each end of it to get the gray water in and the gray water out okay that said i'm
00:58:37sure that's clean but i have to be very careful if i just grab a torch and cut into this this thing could
00:58:44blow up it's basically a bomb
00:58:49um we've got a few tricks up our sleeve that we can probably cut holes bore holes into this thing
00:58:55make it work because this is really going to be helpful got to take it serious
00:59:04if we fill it full of water we can cut on it we can grind on it that said we'll try to find a water
00:59:09source i mean we live in alaska 12 000 rivers three million lakes we'll fill this thing up cut it hopefully
00:59:17not blow up bring it back and stick it in the ground marty will flood the 1 000 gallon fuel tank with pond
00:59:26water in order to dilute and dissipate any lingering fumes before cutting two holes on either side
00:59:34next he'll bury the tank in a trench before connecting and insulating the restored septic lines
00:59:41finally he'll construct a log crib out of downed trees for a new leach field creating proper disposal
00:59:49of gray water and ensuring there will be no impact on the water line ever again let's strap it down
00:59:58find some water ready clint let's hit it
01:00:11let's go there's 36 hours remaining in the re-rescue so where is the pond
01:00:21uh 12 miles away and deep in the alaskan interior marty and clint venture to a nearby pond
01:00:28to ensure the old fuel tank is 100 safe to cut into and where are we going to dump it like that's
01:00:36where you're kind of where you don't want to dump it back by the pond no we'll probably dump it on that
01:00:42gray water site and i'm thinking that we're not going to see much
01:00:48contamination but i just can't take a chance yeah it's too old of a tank
01:00:54do you know any stories of uh people welding on fuel tanks i can think of two in my lifetime
01:00:59they survive dead oh no learning from my mistakes or other people's mistakes it's probably while i'm
01:01:09still alive i think let's keep it that way even though this old fuel tank smelled like fuel i think
01:01:19it's clean but we have to take precautions i'll purge that tank filling it with water if there's any fuel
01:01:27residual captured in that steel tank let's hook up this suction line the heat of a torch even the heat
01:01:35of the day can exacerbate the flammability of those fumes
01:01:44did we bring something to prime that pump water bottles a bucket no
01:01:50i'm not that smart but i've always thought clint was really smart but neither one of us took a
01:01:59five gallon bucket down to the lake so there was no way to prime the pump then i realized i had not
01:02:04one but two buckets clint fill up this boot that'll prime it clint hold on buddy you sure oh yeah gotta
01:02:17get the job done but will you do me a favor next time remember to bring the bucket all right
01:02:26again the problem on the homestead was right under my feet
01:02:37you're never going to make a very good bartender
01:02:38the question is am i ever going to get the water out of these boots
01:02:48it's pumping now stretch that hose up that's pumping
01:03:11about ready
01:03:14you got it
01:03:15it's gonna be a miracle if we're not soaking wet by the time this is done
01:03:37back on the homestead i don't know if you can tell behind me
01:03:40it's still a little hazy out uh that fire that we've been dealing with for so long now
01:03:49still burning they're just letting it burn itself out but check it out
01:03:57no more frozen babies the quail and rabbits are going to be so spoiled because they will be so warm
01:04:04and toasty all winter along with a member of marty's build crew christy dax and charlie work on protecting
01:04:14the livestock in the new bear proof shelter put it right here and drop it on this sheet right here
01:04:21so all you gotta do is this hand pick it up let go with this hand let the top just lay on the wall push it up
01:04:34there you go bam all right couple screws
01:04:40the barn is just so small that we didn't have room for the animal feed on top of the animals
01:04:45so when the bear came around one of the things that really attracted him was the animal feed that
01:04:50we had left out and so the enclosed space that's one more step that's going to help ensure the safety
01:04:57of the animals okay so see every one of these lines every one of these studs right here you're
01:05:03going to put a line down in the middle of it yep so this is a stud going up and down this way so in
01:05:08the center just right a line down that way there you go the new part of the barn will really help a
01:05:15lot because it's warmer for the rabbits and then they can have more litters of baby bunnies good job
01:05:26dax and charlie are my teammates you know it takes all three of us to get stuff done around here
01:05:30there's a lot of times i find myself being a little more lax on them because they do have so many
01:05:34responsibilities it's not just you know mom and kids we all have to do things together
01:05:43i feel like living this lifestyle you really get to get back to the basics and the simple aspects of
01:05:49life but it's only successful when you have a team working together that's really important for my kids
01:05:57i want them to know how things are done and how to appreciate things that we're given in life
01:06:02dax has just ran with this lifestyle he absolutely loves it and charlie tries her best but her
01:06:10personality doesn't fit as well with the off-grid lifestyle but i ultimately think that her growing
01:06:17up this way is lending her to have more appreciation of the simpler things even if she doesn't continue to
01:06:23live this lifestyle there we go oh clint clint back at the pond clint shut it off clint
01:06:43i think it's safe to work on so clint and i took all the precautions because this tank was really
01:06:50dangerous and once we filled the tank full of water all right let's start cutting we assumed it was safe to
01:06:57grind on once i saw the water that we had put in there come streaming out i realized that the tank was
01:07:10benign i didn't see any residual fuel i didn't see anything but clean water coming out so that second
01:07:20we just got to work we cut a few holes in it and now we're ready to put it in place let's go
01:07:50it's the final day of the re-rescue of the adams alaskan homestead all right and with the well
01:08:02cleaned and the water line fixed hey buddy i'll grab the chain if you want to grab the axe marty is under
01:08:09the gun to install the new gray water disposal system clint so now that clint and i have safely cut these
01:08:17holes into this tank it's time to put it in the ground and put it into action she'll never deal
01:08:24with an unsanitary cesspool near the front door drop it down right there please kristen yeah clint thank
01:08:33you all right i worry that we're on a time crunch and now that we know that the water line problem is
01:08:41from the gray water making it frozen in the winter time now we have to figure out what to do with all
01:08:47that gray water where does that water go now now it's a it's a thousand gallons yeah even though that
01:08:53sounds like a lot it's not going to take very long for it to fill up okay okay so we're going to introduce
01:08:59that uh gray water in this side but we're going to allow that gray water to get out and go into a
01:09:06little leach field that can accommodate i don't care how much water that you guys discharge from
01:09:12the house okay based on that we'll get started sounds good okay all right let's hit it so we're
01:09:18going to set the tank put foam over it and then at least four feet of dirt
01:09:27i say we cut in that i'll start plumbing give me that black pipe quickly oh all the little pieces all
01:09:34the little pieces and a big piece what are we cutting it with that's all we've got a lot of
01:09:40work to get done on this homestead i'm trying to get everything where it won't freeze again
01:09:44and it's quite a process to do all these repairs so we have a four inch black pvc pipe coming out of
01:09:51the house that will accommodate all the water that they can discharge goes into a trench at least four feet
01:09:58deep and then we've solved that problem permafrost you're not gonna believe i hit permafrost right
01:10:09here 10 feet back last year had to spot with a space heater to get this water line in you hear that story
01:10:17last year marty was stuck when permafrost threatened to keep him from running the water
01:10:22line to the homestead 10 foot trench perfect first 50 feet money the last 20 feet
01:10:35that gravel's frozen boom there it is permafrost
01:10:43if we were in tennessee i could just leave christy with a nice water well and they could go out there
01:10:5012 months a year and pull up water they'd be fine not here the only way to really ensure that this
01:10:57family gets water year round is to connect the water line insulate it introduce it into the bottom
01:11:03of the house all efforts trying to keep the water thawed in a place that gets 70 below zero here we are
01:11:1310 feet to go how are we gonna do it excavator can't reach under the house
01:11:18we have to pick and shovel through one quarter inch at a time
01:11:25many years ago this was a very important tool
01:11:30why because permafrost is rampant in interior alaska and that's where there are many gold mines so they
01:11:38would actually believe it or not find some gold melt the frozen ground just like we've done with a heater
01:11:45but they would have to build a fire and that fire would thaw the ground and inch by inch they'd make
01:11:51their way through the frozen ground that they had just thawed until they had to build another fire
01:11:58okay there you go here we are at the finish line we finally have thawed and picked our way to
01:12:07success hopefully now we can get the water line into the house
01:12:14all right clint's got the excavator bucket this close to my head that said i don't care because
01:12:21one inch at a time we're getting from the house to that tank before we leave making it did it go
01:12:28yeah money get the tank in there we're burning daylight even though the sun never goes down
01:12:44which side's in i don't remember it doesn't matter i think that's the i think we want it spun though
01:12:50uh this side's higher the clean outs on this side they won't run over it over here
01:13:01it's money clint as this day progresses it's getting a little hectic and there's a lot of work
01:13:07to be done and i'm going into homestead mode watch out i'm gonna have to move this pipe a little bit
01:13:12i'm yelling at everybody hand me that pipe hand me the cutters the glue i feel like dr rainey
01:13:17no more mr nice guy this pipe is a clean out part whatever happened to the sewer line you've got
01:13:26to be able to access it so if you were to take this cap off in january this sewer land would be frozen
01:13:33in a day or two so this is a critical thing to have on your line people think it's for smell it is but
01:13:41it's to protect cold air from going down your life so right now christy thinks she's getting a
01:13:47gray water system see this sewer line it goes straight into the bathroom and it's hooked into
01:13:55a big white thing that flushes that's a first for this homestead
01:14:00clear we've got the tank in place and the only thing left to do now is dig the leech field but
01:14:17it looks like a bomb went off i can't leave this homestead like this so even though the sun ain't
01:14:23setting to one time's up there's a lot of work to get done there's no time to sit contemplate or just
01:14:42relax let's go let's go and sometimes when the going gets tough clint's nowhere to be found on this
01:14:50homestead so what does he get up to hey glenn take a load off hey i'll be right in
01:15:09yeah usually when marty yells clint this is what i'm doing pretty relaxing don't tell him
01:15:25what oh no
01:15:27coming through there's only three hours left to re-rescue the adamses alaskan homestead watch out
01:15:43partner and before he leaves for good marty scrambles to finish the new gray water system watch out
01:15:50we've designed a very basic leech field made up of a labyrinth of trees and branches and clean
01:15:59gravel that can accommodate all of that gray water coming from the house how deep the trench
01:16:07chris yeah the sheer number of all of the things they get done is overwhelming hey buddy you guys feel
01:16:16free to cover it all lay it right in there please i was starting to get nervous about him being able
01:16:21to get through that permafrost and get plumbing to the house in time it's all coming together and it's
01:16:26actually happening and it looks like it might actually get finished watch out bud please coming in hot
01:16:37tell him to start filling please
01:16:38so once we complete this system we've accomplished two things they'll never deal with an unsanitary
01:16:48cesspool next to their cabin and
01:16:53discharged water won't be able to go down and freeze the water line it's a win-win
01:17:00all right young lady check this out we've got a four inch wastewater line going that direction
01:17:13okay over to here the line goes down all of it's insulated with a two inch uh rigid foam over the top
01:17:20of it and plastic so there's no way this line's ever going to freeze and this is not necessarily a
01:17:26clean out but it's where you could pump this system okay some people would say oh you have
01:17:31to pump it every year but i wouldn't go more than two years before you had it pumped from here to here
01:17:38underneath me a long ways down covered in insulation is a 1 000 gallon tank and from this tank all the way
01:17:44to the edge of those trees is a 30 foot long leach field yeah we just came up from little house on the
01:17:52prairie to modern day oh yeah one more thing let's go hey adam's family
01:18:05what do you think wow have you ever seen one of these before in your house nope so we've tied in
01:18:12the kitchen sink the bathtub the shower everything drains into this system there's no more gray water
01:18:19that'll ever surface in the yard ever again so when it's 60 below and you got to go to the bathroom
01:18:26is it fun no it's not she's probably the biggest complainer out of all of us i think charlie
01:18:34should have the honors and see if this thing works oh it's even all hooked up and has water in it
01:18:42let's see if it works give it a try
01:18:48wow four days ago the adams's water supply was compromised by an excess of gray water freezing the
01:18:57line and from vermin waste contaminating the well today they have a gray water disposal system
01:19:05repurposed from a 1 000 gallon fuel tank a 30 foot long leach field made from downed trees and a
01:19:12newly insulated well and they have a brand new indoor toilet giving the family potable water and a waste
01:19:21removal system that will never be compromised again i never thought i'd be so excited about a toilet
01:19:28we're so excited to have a flushing toilet that means no more going outside at 40 below zero and freezing your
01:19:35butt off like literally
01:19:40and you know poor charlie she's lived this life pretty much her whole life just to see her face
01:19:46light up over flushing that toilet was wonderful it's such a step up for us it means no more packing
01:19:52honey buckets out to the outhouse when it's cold it's no more using the honey bucket like we can be
01:19:56civilized people now my new throne
01:20:01okay this thing looks pretty nice it does pretty strong yep
01:20:19bear protection after you you're welcome oh yeah it's warm it is warm in here
01:20:26last week the family's sources of protein were exposed to alaska's extreme elements
01:20:36with the rabbits succumbing to the freezing cold and attacked by a wandering bear
01:20:42today they've framed their woodshed to become a 10 by 20 foot structure complete with insulated walls and
01:20:50flooring roosts for the quails and enough space to safely house their protein sources
01:20:56for years to come this is kind of a big space and quail are this big right so you have other plans
01:21:04here we do we have some big plans already dax has big plans of doing two stories so that we could have
01:21:09the quail on the bottom and maybe the rabbits on the top kid's amazing yes he's already thinking he is
01:21:15yeah he's doing it for me he makes it easy for me wow they have values and they have a work ethic
01:21:21they're smart i mean i'm really impressed so take a bow as a mom thank you you're welcome thank you okay after you
01:21:34i'm really impressed and inspired by the three of you as a family and i'm glad that i came with the
01:21:42crew because to find you without water and the big cesspool in the front yard and rabbits being
01:21:49attacked by black bears i'm gonna tell you i wasn't happy but i feel really good right now and
01:21:55thanks for working hard alongside us to get all this stuff done i mean you kids are very well behaved and
01:22:01very respectful and hard working you have chores and you're you know you're mature and yet you're still
01:22:06kids what do you think do you think we're better prepared for the next bear oh yeah we've got
01:22:13just to store all the animals and the food now can the bear get in there i don't think so i don't
01:22:19think so either i think we'll be safe is it because we built that building and just
01:22:25tried to think about it a little bit harder yeah you guys helped us a lot
01:22:31i'm so incredibly proud of my kids facing all the challenges together living this lifestyle and to have
01:22:37marty come back twice has helped set us up and secured us for carrying on and and being really
01:22:44successful we're gonna go so much further now i think we're very well set well thank you for letting
01:22:50me come maybe someday i'll come back here again but it's time to go christy and her kids are living
01:22:59proof that you can homestead anywhere it's their sanctuary it's their refuge it's their future thank you so
01:23:07much take care you make the best of it bye
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