0006 Prepping for Fires, Homesteading in the Cold, Homesteading Animal Breeds

This episode explores the intersection of faith and practical preparedness through the lens of Proverbs. We discuss the significance of wisdom in speech, the reality of natural disasters, homesteading challenges, and the importance of community accountability through our upcoming 90-Day Forge Challenge. 
• Insights from Proverbs emphasizing integrity and wise speech 
• Reflections on navigating social media and its impact on communication 
• Discussion on the importance of emergency preparedness and resourcefulness 
• Personal experiences dealing with winter homesteading challenges 
• Recommendations for choosing livestock and fostering sustainable practices 
• Introduction to the 90-Day Forge Challenge focused on holistic growth and accountability

Christian Warrior Talk is Sponsored by Trident Shield, your trusted ally in violence preparedness. Trident Shield helps safeguard your loved ones with expert training and consulting. Trident Shield, defending faith through empowered preparedness because together, we save lives."

Chapters

• 0:00 Christian Fellowship Show and Proverbs Wisdom
• 13:22 Wildfires and Preparing for Disaster
• 28:50 Homesteading Challenges
• 40:16 Winter Prep and Livestock Care
• 46:04 Livestock Breeds and Farming Tips
• 58:57 Christian Warrior Disciple Group Guidelines
• 1:09:19 Prayerful Dedication and Fellowship Start

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:39

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Christ Forge Locking Shields, the Christian fellowship show where we fight three battles. We fight one to get a humble and grateful heart bind on to the Lord. Two deliberately pursue a relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, by studying His Word and through prayer. Three, we spend time in fellowship with iron, sharpening Iron, submitting ourselves to the accountability of one another and the five pillars, which are faith, family, fitness, fundamentals, finances. You're also the home of the 90-Day Forge Challenge, which starts Monday. But welcome, welcome, welcome. As you guys know, I'm going to put on my speaker so I can hear that I got the right sound effects. Going here and start our strength and honor and start doing this. Right, Ready, All right. So I got Lauren here. Strength and honor. Strength and honor, strength and honor.

Speaker 1: 1:44

I got Adrian here.

Speaker 2: 1:45

Strength and honor, strength and honor, strength and honor. I got Adrian here. Strength and honor, strength and honor, strength and honor All right.

Speaker 1: 1:50

So I see I get other people are. If you're watching from all around the country, I know we picked up all around the world. I know we picked up a lot of followers here recently. Just let us know where you're watching from and you know in your name and we will give you a strength and honor. Strength and honor. Strength and honor, strength and honor.

Speaker 1: 2:09

In Ohio, if I remember. So, welcome, welcome, welcome, let's get our first battle won and then we can start rolling on, because last time, boy, did I get off and running for a while. Family, Father, lord, we thank you, we thank you for this group, we thank you for this time, we thank you for getting us through another week. Lord, we know that there are many who are suffering right now, particularly in California and still here in North Carolina and Tennessee, from the hurricanes. And now we have wildfires in California, our the hurricanes, and now we have wildfires in california. Um, and our, our hearts go to them and our we send our prayers that way, now that you would comfort them and bring them peace, or. But for a vast majority of us, we woke up and we hit the lottery by being born in the greatest nation to ever live, and that's this country. Lord, we also thank you for giving us another day, another day and another chance to get it right. Lord, we thank you for the trillions upon trillions of cells that worked perfect just for us to get out of bed this morning and to be here. We thank you for everyone in our lives that means so much to us all our loved ones, all of our friends and our family. Lord, we thank you for your common grace, your creation, this universe. Thank you for the sun, the moon, the stars. We thank you for this earth and the mountains to the oceans and everything in between. Lord, we thank you for the sunrise and the sunset. We thank you for the sounds of birds in the morning and children laughing, lord. We thank you for the smell of morning rain, fresh morning rain, good food cooking. Lord, we thank you for the taste of that good food and that good drink. You didn't have to make food taste good, but you did. Lord, we thank you for a warm fire, like we have going here tonight on a cold night, in a cool breeze, on a hot day. We thank you for the touch of a loved one. Lord, I pray that this time that we spend together, that you would bless it, that it would serve you and only you, please you and honor you. So may we proclaim you with every breath of our lungs and serve you with every beat of our heart. In Jesus' name we pray amen, all right.

Speaker 1: 5:01

Battle number one done. Battle number two we're going to be going through Proverbs, and today is the 10th, and so we are on the 10th Proverb. There's one for about every day of the month. You know, depending on what month you're in, there's more Proverbs than you need For shorter months. Let's get into the Proverbs of Solomon and get our second battle one so we can go ahead and start our fellowship. I'm reading out of the English Standard Version A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.

Speaker 1: 5:53

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked. A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps and harvests is a son who brings shame. Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot. The wise of heart will receive commandments, but the babbling fool will come to ruin. Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his way crooked will be found out. Whoever winks the eye causes trouble, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.

Speaker 1: 7:02

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense. The wise lay up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool brings ruin. Near A rich man's, wealth is his strong city. The poverty of the poor is their ruin. The wage of the righteous leads to life, but the gain of the wicked to sin. Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.

Speaker 1: 7:53

The one who conceals hatred has lying lips. Whoever utters slander is a fool. When words are many, transgression is not lacking. But whoever restrains his lips is prudent. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many. The fools die for lack of sense. The blessing of the Lord makes rich and he adds no sorrow with it.

Speaker 1: 8:34

Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool. But wisdom is pleasure to the man of understanding. But the wicked dreads will come upon him. But the desire of the righteous will be granted when the tempest passes. The wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever. Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him. The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short. The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the blameless, a destruction to evildoers. The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land. The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse.

Speaker 1: 9:47

So there's 32 verses in that and I think you'd find at least a third of them have to deal with speech, tongue or words. You know, if you just read Proverbs alone and just followed its wisdom, you'd be doing well in life. You wouldn't be saved because you wouldn't know Jesus Christ, but the wisdom in there is eternal. You know, in these days of social media, where words are said without consequence, where people run their mouth and are so mean and so gotcha and I'm guilty of it as well that it really brings turn the other cheek to a whole new level in commonality or frequency. I should say Then, if you could record yourself for a day, like if you were just on the camera on the wall and you could see what you say and what you do, how horrified would you be about the things that you say, never mind what you think. Horrified would you be about the things that you say, never mind what you think.

Speaker 1: 11:28

So I hope this year, particularly as we work through the 90-day crucible sorry, the 90-day forging used to be called the crucible that if we could fix our tongue for that time and watch what we say, speak only uplifting words and only build one another up. Speak truth, speak truth and confront wickedness, but in everything else, and everything else, build up. I know my family has been. They are terrors. They tear down people and I'm overcoming generations upon generations upon generations upon generations of tearing each other down, being negative. I despise it in myself and I know that I need to get rid of it or else it's going to manifest itself in my children and I can't have that, won't have that. So we're going to take our first break, come back like 30 seconds and start the fellowship portion, the third battle, and talk about the topics we have at hand tonight. We're going to talk about prepping for fires and also mass evacuations when we come back.

Speaker 3: 13:38

Christian Warrior Talk is sponsored by Trident Shield, your trusted ally in violence. Preparedness Trident Shield safeguards your loved ones with expert training and consulting. Trident Shield defending faith through preparedness.

Speaker 1: 13:54

Man. We can update all the audio to get rid of the old show and the new show when Lauren gets back in town. So, as you guys may know, I am in an empty house. My wife went to go visit family up in Maine and took three kids. I drove them to the airport and she braved the airlines In non-peak season, thank the Lord, saved the airlines in non-peak season, thank the Lord. With a one-year-old, a three-year-old and a five-and-a-half-year-old, god bless her. God bless her. So she's up there. She'll be back on Tuesday, thank the Lord.

Speaker 1: 14:40

I miss them terribly and I have become the sole homesteader in the coldest snap of the year. So the reason why I'm not with them we don't have someone staying at the house is that for multiple days it was going to be below freezing here in Tennessee, which is that's not the norm. Normally it's cold at night, if over freezing at nine. During the day it gets above and we've had multiple three day stints where I'm out there breaking ice, the cows and the hogs and the chickens and the dogs and everyone else out there and it's just a lot of work and um and then having to use my truck instead of the side by side to get stuff done and, um, it was just easier if I did it. But, holy smokes, we got snow today. The girls went to maine wanting to see snow and sledding and skiing and all these great things, and they went up there and there's more snow in Tennessee than there is in Maine right now, more snow in Tennessee than there is in Maine, and we got two inches where I'm at. I'm sure they got way more in the mountains and everywhere else, but we got about two inches here, everywhere else, but we got about two inches here. And uh, and let me tell you, homesteading and farming is fun in this.

Speaker 1: 16:08

On a summer day or or a nice fall day, it's really great. But in cold winter days or cold wet days they are the worst. I don't mind cold when there's no mud. So there's no mud right now, so it's not as as bad as it could be the worst slightly above like 33 degrees in rain, because then you get all the mud and the cold and the wind and it's just miserable. But there has not been windy long, long time. Got a lot of work going on right now with Trident Shield and trying to help a lot of schools get safer and organizations and churches get safer.

Speaker 1: 17:12

So I haven't really watched a lot of it. I've seen the horrific film. I've seen, you know, videos and everything that's with it. I understand there's, of course, it's California, so I'm sure I heard the fire hydrants were empty and everything else was and all that other stuff, because I'm sure they were trying to protect the smelt or something, cause it's California, right, Um, and they made massive, you know, over, I don't know. I thought I saw 15 or 17, $18 million in cuts to their fire department, um, and a bunch of other things they got. It looks like they're in, you know, dei all over their their fire department as well. Again, it's california. What do you expect like these people who live there and they pay their taxes and it's fine when something goes wrong, you can be as diverse and low quality people as you want, but when it's life and death and you didn't bring the best person on the job, well, they're learning a very hard lesson right now.

Speaker 1: 18:31

Now, fires, you know, growing up in, you know Boston, and you know I'm spending a lot of time in Virginia Beach time in Virginia, very wet climates. You know wildfire, you know I did spend, you know, obviously, years in California, but Coronado isn't really a fire threat, neither was San Diego or PB. Now it could be because it's dry there and they don't get a lot of rain, but it's also the desert right. There's not a lot there, but just north in la and I guess malibu is taken out. These wildfires, with these winds that spread the fire that makes it jump across streets right Jump across streets when everyone just thinks of a fire on a non windy day and it just burns up and that doesn't really go anywhere. When you get a hundred mile on a winds whipping it sideways, there's nowhere it won't go to. And you know there's a reason why any serious prepper doesn't live in the city. Hey, cheerful coconut. Strength and honor. Strength and honor.

Speaker 1: 19:54

There's a reason why Serious preppers don't Live in the cities, right, because when something bad happens, like a fire, everyone's leaving at once and your freeways turn into parking lots and people burn alive in their cars. That's what happens. And there's also a reason why preppers drive four-wheel drive vehicles Many of us with big bumpers on the front or back because we want to be able to get somewhere. Now I also have a side-by-side for the farm, but a side-by-side is an all-wheel drive vehicle and mine's got a snorkel on it and you know, and like tires and massive clearance and 13 inches of travel and all this other stuff. Yeah, it's gonna be.

Speaker 1: 21:01

You know lauren's point. She said, excuse me, surprised by how low the death toll is currently. Yeah, I'm surprised as well. I don't know how long till we get that again. We still don't have the death toll with all the missing people here in Appalachia from the flooding. But your vehicle is going to dictate where you can go and how you can get out of there. If the highway's gridlocked and you can jump the curb or you can go off-roading or go across terrain, you're in a better position than a lot of other people. The other thing is a four-wheel drive vehicle like a side-by-side four-wheelers et cetera, to get out of Dodge. They can fit, but nothing else can fit, so that when you need to get out you can get out. Side-by-sides can do 60 miles an hour plus. Some models even weigh more than that.

Speaker 1: 22:16

So here is lauren again saying saw a reel about all the aid that biden is already committing to restore the area and comparing it to the insulting response to north carolina. Of course north carolina, north Carolina was forgotten and Tennessee forgotten, because it's not a bunch of Hollywood stars, right. And then cheerful coconut said strength and honor tea, which is Troy's listening, but our new bedside gun safe came, so he's very excited. This is all your fault. Well, I think that's great. I think getting a bedside gun safe is amazing when you have kids and everything else so good on them.

Speaker 1: 23:13

And then Brandy put could continued fires in California be the result of the way they vote? Well, incompetence, you know they haven't done control burns, they haven't done a lot of the things that people would normally do there to control that and they put their money into stupid things like drug programs and a million other you know, and fighting trump and a million other things. And it's clown world over there. It's clown show, clown world. You know it's amazing. Anything works at all there. So I think it definitely has reason of it.

Speaker 1: 23:54

But my point is that I brought up today and I put a post on X is basically how crazy these fires are, with these windstorms, that any bad actor, terrorist, mentally ill person, wicked, evil person with a gallon of gasoline and a book of matches could do billions of dollars in damage and untold cost of lives because of the wind and everything else. In fact, public. I've seen videos of people apprehending potential arsonists trying to start fires and it's amazing that there's any of California the part that's in drought anyway, southern California still standing, because there's obviously some wicked actors. We've had a wide, open southern border. We've had all kinds of things going on that California is a very easy target when you get hurricane force winds blowing across there. They haven't had rain there since spring. Well, it doesn't take much, as we've seen, to have some really awful things happen and unfortunately I think we're just going to see more of it.

Speaker 1: 25:24

So MTSG said this past year has shown us it doesn't matter where you are Tennessee, north Carolina, was hit hard, now Cali. You're right about cities. Just prepping in general is a good idea, 100%. And Cheerful Coconut said, lived in California for a decade. They refused to build infrastructure to gather water and run off to save wildlife, refused to clean up coastlines in the wild areas to save beetles total blank show. Absolutely. There is no place on earth that has more twisted, broken government than California. And then Scott said did you see they arrest? Did you see they did arrest? At least one person was starting one of those fires. Yes, I did see that.

Speaker 1: 26:31

It's unfortunate that it takes natural or well disasters, not natural man-made disasters. Obviously, arson is a man-made disaster. For people to wake up like. You got liberal actresses and actors on the news channels. Now you got morning Joe saying stuff. I mean Gavin Newsom's political career might finally be over. I mean he's so incompetent and everything else he's done. You know they're asking him where the water is and he has no idea. The governor of the state, largest city in this. You have no idea.

Speaker 1: 27:23

California, which is one of the most beautiful places on earth, has been destroyed by the Democrat Party and all the wickedness and incompetence and deviance that comes with them, and it's why it's an unlivable place now. And it's why it's an unlivable place now. I mean, how many people bailed on it? Brandy said incompetence votes, incompetence, absolutely, absolutely. So Trevor Cooken said Lauren, I didn't know Biden did that. So Trevor said Lauren, I didn't know Biden did that. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but it's disgusting and infuriating absolutely. Hollywood's, his crew, that's who donated to his campaign. Of course he's going to take care of them going out the door. Let's get back to prepping for this. So let's get back to prepping for this. So you know, I do a lot of emergency action plans, emergency operation plans, crisis management plans for a lot of organizations across the country. Depending where you live, you have different types of threats. Wildfires, for me, is one of the hardest ones to do.

Speaker 1: 28:59

It's one of the because it travels so fast that doesn't travel on a straight line, travels whichever way, the wind blows, and and they're terrifying. So one of the things you need to know is that if you're going to Try to get take shelter in a place, you need to know is that if you're going to try to get take shelter in a place, you need something that is five times the height of the tallest tree near you in space, because if there's that heat, that overwhelming heat that's blowing sideways, you need to get five times the tallest tree height. That is a safe place to be. You know, I would do that with a fire blanket. You know those silver fire blankets that keep the heat away from you Like tinfoil, trimming away trees and brush and keeping your grass short, your vegetation away from your house. These are things.

Speaker 1: 30:22

The other thing is, you know, don't live in cities, man. If you're in a place where they tell you to get out and everything's a parking lot, it's already too late. You have to either beat the rush or have a way to go around the rush. Dirt bikes are great, side-by-sides, four-wheelers, that type of thing. The amount, how quickly panic sets into a city and how quickly law, rule of law breaks down. It's frightening, absolutely frightening, and you get to think about this stuff when you're traveling. I travel a lot for consulting Tried and shield. When you're traveling, I travel a lot for consulting Trident Shield and typically when I go somewhere I'll pay an extra 10, 20 bucks a day to get a four by four truck. So if I have to go home, I get something that can make it home Instead of getting the Toyota Camry. Particularly when you're traveling, you're not checking a bag so you can't bring a firearm. You get nothing. You're room for error. When you're traveling and you're trying to prep and they're going out to the west coast or down in florida during hurricane season, or even in the north or in a blizzard, things get can get pretty hairy and you got to make sure that you're mobile. Maintaining your property depending on how densely populated you are, how big your trees are is going to be your best bet and in choosing where your house is, obviously to protect against fires like this.

Speaker 1: 33:05

You know fires in Tennessee. We've had a few here. They typically get put out a lot. This was one of the driest summers we've had in a while. I mean we had to buy hay this year for the first time since we've been farming in the summer because our grass wasn't growing because it wouldn't rain, whereas the year before that we didn't have to buy hay and life. We had more cattle on the property than we probably should have, but it rained so much the grass grew like crazy. It didn't bother us. This year not so much.

Speaker 1: 33:50

You know, you see a lot of these people out there who are trying to fight 70-foot flames or 50-foot flames with a garden hose. I don't know if there's anything worth burning for, unless you're trying to protect your family Because you didn't get out in time, then that's something you got to make the call to do. You know there's fire protection gear out there that you can get If you're in one of those zones, or fire blankets. There are fireproof rooms you can build Not cheap and get your fire extinguishers. And then, most importantly, what's your, what's your bull path? If you lose control, you lose control and you can't. How are you getting your family there and where are they going?

Speaker 1: 35:21

Don't say the top of the mountain, because the fire burns up, heat goes up and it'll go right over the top of the mountain. That's what we're seeing in California on the coast top of the mountain that we're seeing in California. On the coast, you need wide open space with no vegetation, or very low vegetation, golf course. So again, don't live in cities. When in doubt, get out first. Don't have 90 days worth of supplies minimum 30, that you don't have to go anywhere. So when you get blindsided, hey, there's an emergency. You're not one of these people flying around trying to get all this stuff. You're able to go home and batten down the hatches and take precautions there and set yourself up for success. Just remember, five times tree height with structure. That's how far you need to be.

Speaker 1: 36:58

So we're going to take a break. We're going to come back. We're going to talk about two homesteading um topics. We're going to talk about winter homesteading and lessons that we've learned and, um, you know, thank god, we're not in, like some other other places where the winter's way longer. And then we're going to talk about animal selection. Jonathan Young, welcome to the show. Strength and honor. Strength and honor, strength and honor.

Speaker 1: 37:24

He said. That's a great point about a pickup when traveling. Always do it, brother. Always do it that way you need to. You get a four-wheel drive, you get something with something on it and here's the thing, they're not even that expensive. Usually people don't want them, so you can get them as a free upgrade if you want. Getting a four-by-four very important in my opinion. So getting a four by four very important in my opinion. The other thing we're going to talk about is choosing animals and breeds of animals, starting your homestead. So we're going to take a 30-second break. Come back, do that, and then we're going to talk about the 90 day forging challenge, which starts on Monday, and I can't wait to do that with you guys. So be right back. Word from our amazing sponsor.

Speaker 3: 38:23

Trident Shields. Christian Warrior Talk is sponsored by Trident Shields, your trusted ally in violence. Preparedness Trident Shields safeguards your loved ones with expert training and consulting. Trident Shields defending faith through preparedness. Trident Shield safeguards your loved ones with expert training and consulting. Trident Shield defending faith through preparedness because All right.

Speaker 1: 38:39

So here we are in the middle of, well, winter in Tennessee, linda. Strength and honor. Strength and honor, strength and honor.

Speaker 1: 38:53

Welcome. So here we are. We're farming in Tennessee and I'm alone, so the wife's not here, so we're not diluting chores or anything in Tennessee and I'm alone, so the wife's not here, so we're not diluting chores or anything, and we are dealing in the cold You're going to worry about and luckily it's not windy but in the cold when you're homesteading and you've got animals, you've got to make sure that they can stay warm and that they can stay hydrated. So you know, lauren and I, before we looked, we're always looking at the weather and now nobody is more wrong than the weathermen in Tennessee. I wish I could be as wrong as they are and still have a job, because they are very, very rarely right. But temperature wise they typically get right, but precipitation, non-precipitation, they don't get right here. And I guess it's challenging with the mountains and wind patterns and all that stuff, and it's just a really hard place to forecast, I guess, unlike San Francisco where it's sunny and 75 or hazy for months and whatever. So anyways, we are constantly battling in the winter, frozen troughs, right in the winter, frozen troughs right, water troughs, frozen buckets, and trying to manage them. And we're constantly, you know, managing our spigots, our outdoor spigots, our indoor spigots, to make sure they don't burst.

Speaker 1: 40:16

Homes in Tennessee or in the South, as you start getting here, are not built for cold weather. So you get three to five days of freezing temps, constant, with nothing above freezing. People's pipes burst like crazy. Now this house had preppers on it before we were even here, the gold school farmer canning preppers. So our basement has a beautiful wood stove, a cooking wood stove next to that um down there. So then we get a basement, which is the key right. So we fire up that wood stove in the morning, keep that fed. That heat comes up the stairs. It keeps all the pipes warm, keeps the floors warm and our heat pump barely has to work. So a wood stove, get one. They are worth their weight in gold. Put it low, let the heat rise fantastic Outside.

Speaker 1: 41:17

We have not had to battle the cold that much out there, meaning that we're not dealing. We have a short. We got like two months of winter here and out of those two months it's really like 30 days of like truly cold weather and it's usually not even stacked up. So you know it's inconvenient and chores take a long time because I'm out there with a four pound. You know hammer, hammer, ax that I use to split wood and I'm smashing water and dealing with that and smashing ice in the troughs. And you know the problem is with the pigs we feed, we water them and these feed troughs that have these metal sections in them, because the pigs will climb in it otherwise and try to roll around in the water and they just become ice cube trees. So luckily, praise the lord, actually it's rained a bit here lately. We have big puddles out there and we're just breaking up the puddles and the pigs are drinking from the puddles. But storing your, your water in the house, bringing your hoses in to thaw overnight, you know filling, being smart and strategic with your watering, has been big Lauren and I.

Speaker 1: 42:38

So Linda asked how do you take care of the chickens? The chickens are actually pretty easy, you know if you have a good coop. So we, we have a decent coop, we put a lot of straw in there. Um, and you know we're swapping out the straw often, you know, every few days, to give you know as it gets beat down, as it's needed. Um, you give the cow like, so the so, so you got to give straw to the chickens, straw to the cows. Straw to the livestock stock guardian dogs, right, and you give them fresh straw because that just keeps heat and then, as that gets chopped up or beat down, you got to swap that out, okay, so that's how we deal with that with the chickens, the dogs and the pigs. Now, also with the pigs, we give more corn and we give corn to the pigs, corn to the chickens, corn, more corn to the cows, because that makes them the body works harder to digest it. It makes them generate more heat. So they say I don't know the science behind it, but that's what we're taught.

Speaker 1: 43:47

So we do that. So we make sure we close up the chickens, we put them up for the night they're good to go and batten down the hatches. We make sure the wind can't get through there. They generate a lot of heat, they get in their little groups and they're good to go. Now the pigs they just make a big puddle. They really do a pig pile and they stay warm in there doing that pig pile and they stay warm, uh, in there doing that lauren, the other day, when they get up from their pig pile, because he's steam rising from the big pile, from all them being on it. So they've been doing good. The livestock guardian dogs this is nothing to them. They are doing great. They're pain in the butt but they're doing great.

Speaker 1: 44:36

Um, and the cows, you know, as long as they can eat, they stay warm and luckily again, or not, or not luckily, praise the Lord, thank the Lord. It hasn't been windy with that crazy wind chill. I haven't seen any frostbite this year, like we saw that crazy cold snap that we had, where it was negative 17 here for two Christmases ago. That's not the case here now. So that's how we've been dealing with it.

Speaker 1: 45:06

Some people put heaters in their troughs and all that stuff, but you need a food source, I mean a power source and all that stuff. Our pigs are a quarter mile away from us right now. That's a long line to run, so that ain't going to work right now. That's a long line to run, so that ain't gonna work. Um, the cows are closer. That's something that could work, but we just, it's just such a short season for us. That's all we've been handling it now. Some of the things that I've been was talking to my friend the other day, um, who they have eased in and eased out back and forth into homesteading like we have been homesteading here and you know this is all part of our, our fundamentals right, Um, which is part of the five pillars, which is the, you know again, the 90 day forging challenge.

Speaker 1: 45:54

That's starting on Monday and I'm going to talk about that in the next segment. But this whole homesteading prepping, talk about that in the next segment. But this whole homesteading prepping, this is part of the skills or the fundamentals portion. Now, the breeds that I would recommend for animals you know, we've tried our share of things and I can tell you, hands down for chickens. For us black australorps were the least drama, the most friendly, prolific layers, zero air predators, meaning that hawks don't attack them because they think they're crows. So when we were just running all black australorps, we had no drama on the farm. We started getting into other breeds and that's when all the drama came. Now that's for an egg layer.

Speaker 1: 46:50

I would not recommend eating black Australorps. I mean, you can, they're just tiny compared to like your Cornish cross, which is what you get in the store. Now we have done freedom Rangers, which are voracious foragers. They're out there, they eat everything smaller than them, um, and they take a lot longer to grow out than we tried Cornish cross this year for our meat birds and our meat birds Cornish cross. One grew in like six to eight weeks. They were huge right instead of 12 right, which is a lot. When you're feeding 100 of them at a time, it's a lot of money that you're saving there. Um, they also pluck way easier, right. Their feathers come off like so much easier than the freedom Rangers. Their skin is also thinner, so it's better to eat than your freedom Ranger tough skin birds and their breasts are absolutely ginormous. I mean, they are. They're mutants that we humans bred to be very good at what they do. There's a reason why they're the most popular meat bird and what you're going to find is that. You know, we all try to want to get boutique and we want to do a lot of different things, but, man, it's hard to beat Cornish Cross.

Speaker 1: 48:24

For me, birds, it really is great for us. They are giant pigs. They root around the ground. They're great foragers, but they're super friendly and low drama. Um, and we sell out every time we get them, like every time we have a litter. You can sell them all day, every day. Everyone who bought our pork said it's the best pork they've ever had. You know, we do milk fed pork. We give a lot of milk from the cows pork they've ever had. You know we do milk-fed pork. We give them a lot of milk from the cows and they have been awesome. Red wattle, which is a heritage breed, is phenomenal. It's the closest pork to steak that you can find. Okay For taste. I happen to like Berkshires, which is another big pig, again, non-aggressive, you know, friendly, you know it's awesome.

Speaker 1: 49:26

So for those of you guys who know Peg Pig, um, who was our first pig here on the farm, um, red Waddle female, our matriarch, she was limping really bad for like two weeks and we were like man, we're going to have to put Peg down. She had cracked a nail or something and she was horrifically moving around. Well, she's back. I'm glad we gave her time. We isolated her, separated her, gave her a little private pad to heal. She's healed up and she's back to being a social butterfly. The past few days when I've been out there, she's walking out and she's back to being a social butterfly. You know, the past few days when I've been out there she's walking out, hanging with me, investigate what I'm doing, back to being her, wanting her back scratched and her butt rubbed and her belly rubbed and everything else. So you know, yay for pig, pig um, but the berkshires and the red wattles are phenomenal and crossing them has been awesome too.

Speaker 1: 50:20

So I know a lot of people like smaller pigs, like cooney coonies, and they don't. But they don't root much, they don't. You know, I don't know, I haven't had them, I haven't tasted them, I don't have an idea. I do love a pork and I like the white buttery or meat of the Berkshire versus the redder meat of the red waddle. But our customers really love the red waddles. That's what I can say there.

Speaker 1: 50:47

But low drama are put it this way we've had them back there, our big pigs and they're 700 pound, plus some of them okay on a two wire electric fence that have been dead for two months and they don't even try it because we gave them enough room and they are happy. Happy pigs are no drama. Unhappy pigs are a lot of drama. Okay, so they don't trust, touch the wire. I mean, we fixed it but for like two months it was down and they never touched it. They never, ever, ever tried it. They're all stayed back there. They're happy as can be. They know they got a good.

Speaker 1: 51:31

So again now cows, beef cows. It's really hard to beat black Angus in my opinion. I know there's a lot of stuff out there. Um, the black Angus is a reason why it's the number one most desired, you know, meat out there. It's not the boutique of the Kobe or whatever, but when you're just talking about a good steak, black Angus typically is the way to go.

Speaker 1: 51:59

I don't find them to be friendly. Our Black Angus aren't particularly friendly. They're not mean to us anyways, they're just not social. So I really have been a fan of them. We just processed our first bread on the farm, born on the farm, and just went off to be processed and that was yummy and we should be getting her back, I think, in a week or so. A week and 10 days. No drama with them at all're hearty, no problems. They're never sick, they don't bother us, they don't do anything. They're like fire and forget missiles. You just feed them grass grain so they come and you don't ever have to worry about now dairy cows. Lauren will probably have more to say in this than everything. We love our jerseys. They are friendly. They give out great milk with a high cream volume. Hey Bob, what's up? Strengthen, honor, strengthen honor.

Speaker 1: 53:31

Strengthen, honor, cream, count cream volume. Hey Bob, what's up? We love our jerseys but, if I had to, jerseys have come with their own problems. For a dairy operation, jerseys are constantly. Ours are getting sick. They just were always battling mastitis. They're just not a very durable breed. So we started mixing them with black Angus and we started mixing them with Holsteins and we're hoping to kind of keep the volume in the cream line or maybe even gain some with the Holstein and with the Angus, get more of a cream line and less of the volume and the cream line, or maybe even gain some with the Holstein and with the Angus, get more of a cream line and less of the volume and create a more robust animal than how fragile the jerseys have been. So, um, so that's, that's where we are on them, hey Joseph good to see you.

Speaker 2: 54:20

Strength and honor On them. Hey Joseph, strength and honor, strength and honor.

Speaker 1: 54:27

Now we are looking at brown Swiss Cows as well. I haven't tried them yet. Jerseys, like I said, are very. They're pretty sweet, they're not mean, they can be divas, but they are fragile in my opinion. So again, we're diversifying our bloodline and mixing it like a mutt you know, every one of you guys who has a boutique thoroughbred, purebred dog knows all the problems that come with that, whereas mutts have no problems. We're trying to to keep the qualities we want and kind of inject the better qualities of some of the other breeds together to make a more robust animal that is friendly, produces a fair amount of milk. It doesn't have to be an ungodly amount, but a fair amount of milk with a high cream line. I've heard Guernseys are mean, so Lauren can talk to you about that. But I heard Guernseys were mean so we have stayed away from them. I believe that's the reputation they've had or we've heard. So that's one of the reasons why we stayed away from that we don't have goats, we don't have sheep.

Speaker 1: 55:46

Um, I'm not a lamb goat milk guy. I was thinking about getting some goats to get rid of. I've got about 10 000, uh, blackberry bushes on this property and blackberry bushes are thorns and um, and I was going to bring goats in to eat all that stuff and then see if we can find a use for the meat for goats. I know there's some people who like it. You know I haven't been one of them. I mean, I like a good utero, like anyone else, but you know, we'll see. We'll see how that goes with half Anatolian Shepherd, half-grey Pyrenees for our Lifestar Guardian dogs, and they have been great. Hey, good night Scott. God bless your man, stay safe out there. But I just wanted to download all that for anybody who was thinking about this stuff. And then I wanted to download all that for anybody who was thinking about this stuff. And then I wanted to get into the challenge that we're starting on Monday. So Monday we're doing another 90-day challenge and the group, if you guys checked the day, one post is already up there, all right. So I'm going to pull this up and show you guys what's going on with our 90 day crucible challenge. So hold on and I will migrate to it, I hope here, and I reused and remember um, and you know you'll recognize a lot of the language, tweaked it very slightly, but how it's going to work this time. I wanted to show you guys that here, okay, oops, all right.

Speaker 1: 58:01

Christ Forge Christian Warrior Disciple Training all right, christ forge christian warrior disciple training is the group. And now I can share that share. Yeah, going back to facebook, it's the only place to do it other than paying, you know, or going to discord and trying to get a bunch of non-tech people on. I mean, everyone knows how to use facebook if they know how to do it. I know a lot of people are boycotting it. I can only do what I can do. I'm going to do what's easiest and it's the easiest way to do it. So if you're too cool for it, sorry it's not for you then, but here we go, all right, let me swap to this one. Go over, swap those images. There we go, all right.

Speaker 1: 58:57

So, as you can see here, this is the christ forge christian warrior disciple group. Um, you can join it if you're not already a member there today. I don't accept people from out of country, so you know, I get a lot of requests from like africa and places um, it's just because there's so many scammers from there that it's not really worth, uh, subjecting everyone to it. And there's a lot of people who just ask for money over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. So, um, so there's that. So, um, what?

Speaker 1: 59:34

So you go in here and you click on guides all right, guides. Of all the instructions, you have Step one here that you can see on the guide. Go in, it gives you all the instructions right here. This is where you need to start. Here's some, you know, fire it up stuff to talk about. It tells you exactly how it's going to go. It tells you why we do the five pillars the faith, family fitness. Faith, family fitness, fundamentals and finances. It talks about how it works.

Speaker 1: 1:00:10

You have to post every day, okay, or you start over. That doesn't mean you have to put anything in there. You can put I'm posting that I didn't do anything today, that's fine. Anything in there, you can put I'm posting that I didn't do anything today, that's fine. It's an accountability group, so that we know that you weren't accountable that you were. You know that you didn't do it and that's okay. You don't have to start over, just post that you didn't do anything. Okay, that's going to happen, all right, um, and then you have an oath that you take. That's step two.

Speaker 1: 1:00:40

You go through here and talking about that and we have some resources, which is the Locking Shields podcast, this, as well as church service, which is on Sundays at 11. And you have some prayers that I have found very helpful. These are taken from John Eldridge's website. His morning prayer, extended, is really good. You can go and listen to that. There's a link in that, as well as his bedtime prayer, which is really long as well. Well worth it. And then you have as, and then you have, and that's it. Those are the oh, then the faith resources, this more. Those were the prayers that I talked about. So you have the podcast, the show, and then you have the prayers, and then you can see um here once you exit out of guides in the discussion.

Speaker 1: 1:01:38

I've already placed the day Okay. So here's how I want this to look as you see there on my screen, you can see, and I'll I'll get make it bigger. So, as you can see there on my screen. How's that? Um, let's do this one, okay, as you can see on my screen, I've got day one. That's the day I'm on.

Speaker 1: 1:02:06

Okay, not everyone's going to be on day one, All right. I mean, we're all going to start on a day one. I could be on day 36 and someone else can come in here and be on their first day and they'll just post it right under my day 36. But if you're not from the lower 48, you can just post on there when you post it. Again, it's not so much what day you're on anymore, right? The day that you're on is the day you're on. You can post when you post. Just, you know your own like. I'm not here to police anyone, right? So I'm starting tomorrow. That's what I'm doing tomorrow, okay, so I'm going to be a day ahead of you guys, and then on Monday, you guys will be on day one and I'll be on day two. Right.

Speaker 1: 1:02:53

And then some people will be starting this in a week and we'll be. I'll be on day eight and there'll be on day one, and it'll be right under this. I'll it'll be. Let's say that, you know, in three weeks I'll be on day 21,. Right? And then somebody might will post right under me there on day one.

Speaker 1: 1:03:11

Okay, so there's not going to be a post for a day that you're going to find on there. You just comment on the latest post, what day you're, on, what you did, and that will keep the most amount of traffic in the right place and the most amount of encouragement in the right place. And it's me posting one picture a day instead of having to post seven pictures a day. So it's just much easier for me to run this and it's a lot easier for you guys to do it, and it's that way you don't have to worry about. You've only got one place to post and if you're, you know, just realize that if you miss a day you start over, okay, but you can put on there hey, I didn't do anything today and that counts, all right, you just have to post, all right, that is the key and this is just so you can get 90 days under your belt of dedicating your entire life to Christ, living for Christ, doing everything for Christ, putting faith first, bringing Christ into your family. Second, Honoring him by taking care of your body. Third, you know, becoming more independent and a better asset to your family. And then cleaning up the cesspool of your finances. And, trust me, I am swimming in the soup of that. All right. So I hope you guys do with me, and if it's just me, that's fine, it's just me, I don't care. At least I'll be continuing there. My life will continue to get better. Those of you who do it, your life will get better. Everyone who did this last time the hardcore version their life was better and then we tried to water it down, and the more we watered it down, the less effective it was, the less effective it was. So get into it, do it. Watch your life change. Watch your relationships get it. Watch your life change. Watch your relationships get better. Watch your journey with God get better. Watch your body change and feel better. Watch how effective you become as you're learning new skills Now faith, family and fitness.

Speaker 1: 1:05:44

You have to post something kind of new every day. Right, you can say I ran. If that's what you did. You ran. That's fine. Glad to hear that cheerful coconut. She said we missed the crucible so much Totally changed everything for us. Can't wait to get back into it. That's fantastic to hear so, and I'm going to stop sharing the screen.

Speaker 1: 1:06:11

It's the hardest and the best thing to do. I completely agree with you, brandy. It is very hard to do, but it's so worth it. It's so worth it. Anything worth doing is hard to do, right? So the first three things faith, family and fitness. Post those every day. Those should be changing every day.

Speaker 1: 1:06:41

Okay, um, your finances. You can say I'm going to do this for the week and just post it every day. I'm working on budgeting. I'm doing this for the week. I know finances is a hard one. Okay, fundamentals you can be like, hey, I'm reading a book this week, you know whatever. Just change it out. You know weekly. So I know people really struggled on those two. So put some thought into it and say on Sunday and be like, okay, monday, I'm doing this for this week for finances and fundamentals.

Speaker 1: 1:07:16

And then the other three where faith every day you're getting up, you're saying morning prayer, you're doing your first cup of coffee goes to Jesus and you're studying your Bible, saying your bedtime prayer, at a minimum. Your family you're choosing somebody deliberately in your family to pour into every day that's effort. You're serving them, you're giving them the love of Christ that day. Okay, now it's going to start with your immediate family, then it'll go to your friends, and then coworkers and strangers, as God sets a point, and then fitness. I don't care what you do, just do something. So that's where we're at, guys.

Speaker 1: 1:08:03

So I am excited to start this with you. I know we've gone a little bit long today, but I am excited to do this with you. I will also um, you know I'll be seeing you at 11 o'clock for service on Sunday. So Sunday I'm not doing the Zoom thing because no one showed up to the Zoom thing. No one person showed up to the Zoom worship, so I'm bailing on the worship. It'll just be the sermon online at 11. All right, we'll do the worship here in-house which was fantastic with the people who show up here in person, but the playlist is always on. It's always on there. It's the Sunday morning worship playlist. That's what we listened to. Start that and then you'll be doing the same thing we're doing there, but you don't need me to stream it into a special room to avoid the copyrights and blah, blah, blah and all the other stuff.

Speaker 1: 1:08:56

So, all right, let's go to war and let's wrap this up in prayer. Family, father, other stuff. So, all right, let's go to war and let's wrap this up in prayer. Heavenly Father, lord, we thank you for this time. We thank you for everyone who invested time to hang out with us tonight to listen to me talk about homesteading and prepping and animals, and then, of course, the 90 day forging challenge.

Speaker 1: 1:09:20

Lord, we're excited to be getting ready to embark on this, and a lot of us have suffered defeats in the past. A lot of us have struggled, a lot of us have not finished this. Lord, help us see this through. Let us not do this for us through. Let us not do this for us. We barely like us, we barely like ourselves. Help us instead to do this for you, you who paid for it all, you who loved us when we were a traitor. Help this 90-day start to be a year that we dedicate to you and a way of life that is serving you and growing in you. So embolden people, lord. Bring them here, rally them together, lock shields together, because I know we're isolated and alone and spread out all over the place.

Speaker 1: 1:10:31

Lord, help us. We need this Lord, we need you. So I pray a prayer of protection, fellowship, peace, determination over this fellowship to start this on Monday as a group. I pray a prayer of protection for the persecuted church, for our troops overseas, our first responders at home, our veterans of yesteryear. I pray the same prayer of protection for the whole world that we don't go into World War III. I pray for people of California, Tennessee and North Carolina who are all suffering right now. You bring them peace, protection.

Speaker 1: 1:11:33

I pray for my beloved America as a whole. I pray that she would humble herself, turn from her sin, hit her knees and seek your face, that she would humble herself, turn from her sin, hit her knees and seek your face. Now you would see her and heal her so that we could once again be one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Now I call this fellowship to attention, to put on the full armor of God. Pick up the shield of faith and pick up the sword of the spirit. Boldly step forward to join shield, while locking shields to the left and right as we march forward to take ground for your kingdom, your glory forever. In Jesus' name. We pray Amen. All right, see you guys all on Sunday at 11.