Freedom Ranch

The stairs are completed, Brie's room is almost done, roads are built and a bull is adopted. Life is good on the ranch!

Chuck and I check out the cattle catcher and holding pens that we had constructed for our Hereford cattle. The new horse shed is in it's beginning stages and on the way to finally getting shelter for our horses!

The log home custom railings are installed and we get to work as a family on the basement ceiling, the trim work in Brie's room & more staining.

Our Herefords have fun chasing the hay bale

Progress is being made on the log home and we are another step closer to completion! Full video to be released this evening.

We install the tongue and groove white pine boards on our basement walls in our log home to create a cozy space. We also make changes to our design for the loft & stair railings, putting to use the remaining white pine beams and cut logs.

We learn how to install the Shluter shower system in preparation for tiling our log home bathrooms. Gabe turns 18 and we celebrate with a huge bonfire, and I get real about where all our chickens have gone.

We have a new arrival on the ranch and I believe the ladies are quite happy about it! The horses come back to the homestead after the weather warms up and the log home is getting closer to our being able to move in.

One of the realities of homesteading is that your meat doesn't come prepackaged from a grocery store. We have our first all family harvesting, processing and packaging experience with one of our remaining hogs and consider it a successful day.

We prepare for the big freeze, finish the wood floors, spend time with family and enjoy Christmas on the homestead. Wishing you all the best!

Our family rallies together to get the hardwood floors finished in our log home & I get Brie's wall and ceilings stained in her room. HVAC coming next, electrical & plumbing...moving in is looking more and more like a reality!

It is with heavy hearts that we share some sad news with you all. Our hearts are heavy with grief.

After recovering from a nasty virus we get back to work installing the reclaimed hardwood floors (with the help of Christian and Hayley). On Thanksgiving day the work doesn't end, with us laying pipe to get water to the animals that won't freeze on its way to them.

The reclaimed hardwood has arrived and we get busy installing it in the master bedroom. We are loving the look of it and can't wait to get it in the rest of the house. https://www.appalachianwoods.com

I get busy staining the ceilings and a few walls to get ready for installing our new reclaimed hardwood floors. Prepping for big changes in our log home!

Chuck reflects on what it is like turning 60 and we surprise him with our first party in the log home; 30 of our closest friends make the trip to the Ranch to help him ring in his 6th decade. The next day we enlist the help of family and friends to help us finish the chinking on the interior of the log home. It is finished!!!

The whole family gets busy chinking the interior logs of our new log home, with dreams of moving in before Christmas!

After fixing the technological challenges in the video, I am now able to post all the action that has been happening on the interior of our log home! I bleached the logs, treated them with a Rugged Wood treatment and then stained them with linseed oil. The tree in the center of our house also gets a coating of linseed oil and looks fantastic. Chuck and the kids start the chinking in the master bedroom and bath...progress!!

We finally have access to our second story and our rooms are starting to take shape! The hemlock tree treads we cut with our Alaskan Saw Mill are put into place and the tongue and groove pine boards are nailed into place along the interior walls and ceiling. Things are really starting to take shape and we are one step closer to being almost able to move in to our new log home!

An update on the Refuge, a non-profit organization that we are in the process of starting on the Ranch and what our vision is for it. Chuck and I also chanced out the Homesteaders of America conference and got to visit with some awesome people and fellow YouTubers! @OFFGRIDwithDOUGSTACY @WildWonderfulOffGrid @RootsandRefugeFarm

We had our driveway repaired after rain washed away some of it, all our new fencing is up around the second pasture and we had quite a time moving the cows and horses to their new home. I would definitely say it all turned out for the best and the animals are loving their new home!