Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I think one of the benefits that we've seen through stopping YouTube has been.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: But we do know that we made a connection with people. Yeah. And we do still feel some almost guilt about.
[00:00:16] Speaker A: I've really enjoyed the moments of just being able to.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: And part of the decision to stop was we wanted to get to a point where we could just.
[00:00:28] Speaker A: Perfect day, I would say perfect day would be.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: I think the beauty of this season of life is that what does it.
[00:00:34] Speaker C: Mean to you to live living traditions without the camera?
Kevin and Sarah from Living Traditions Homestead, thanks so much for joining us.
I think it's awesome that we were able to take a few minutes out of what was planned as a just get together and have dinner and sit down and record a podcast. So thank you so much for joining us.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: Of course.
[00:01:02] Speaker D: So you guys have had a significant life change in the last six months.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: Yes, we have. Yeah. It's been quite different. Yeah.
[00:01:12] Speaker D: You guys put out a video last week, I believe it was, and where you kind of gave an update on what you guys have been doing. A lot of fishing and hanging out together. But today we just wanted to take a minute, connect, and allow our audiences to dig deeper into what you're doing and some of your. Some of your thoughts about your new. Where you're at and what you're doing, if that's okay.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Awesome.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah.
[00:01:42] Speaker C: All right. So for years and years, your life followed a rhythm.
Plan, video, edit, post, plan, video.
What has it been like without that rhythm?
[00:01:59] Speaker A: Very freeing.
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
Most of the time, we forget what day of the week it is unless it's Sunday and we have to go to church. Other than that, like, our life for the last 10 years has been like, we put up videos on these days, and we record videos on these days, and that's, like, what kind of kept us in check. And so now it's like a Tuesday and a Saturday. Feel exactly the same because we just live our life every day doing what we love to do.
[00:02:30] Speaker D: Whenever the camera's off, do you wonder, like, well, what do we do now?
[00:02:35] Speaker A: I don't think we worried about what do we do now? More like, I'm supposed to be shooting a video today.
What we're doing right now, we would generally have a camera with us. And this feels very odd, like, in a good way.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Right.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: You know, this. This summer, I. I put up produce and I gardened and I canned and things like that. And I didn't have a camera in the greenhouse. I didn't have a camera in my kitchen. And it was very Strange, but in such a good way. It was very wonderful.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: The thing with our channel is we never.
We never came up with video ideas. Like, it really was our life. So, like, the only thing that's really changed is that the camera's gone.
[00:03:24] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:24] Speaker B: But life goes on. So, like, we weren't doing things for videos.
[00:03:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: We're videoing what we were doing. So it really hasn't. Like, as far as day to day life goes, it really isn't that much different other than we're no longer editing videos.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: Right.
Yeah.
[00:03:44] Speaker C: That's cool. Because a lot of times, and even a lot of channels, it feels like. Or you know, that things are done just to make a video.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:03:55] Speaker C: And so to hear you say that it was just life.
That's actually really cool.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: You know, it got to a. And part of the decision to stop was we wanted to get to a point where we could just.
We had. We'd grown. I mean, this is our third homestead, so. But here in Missouri, this is our second homestead. We've got our second place now. To a point where we didn't really need to keep adding. We didn't really need to keep doing big projects. We didn't. And we felt like if we kept doing videos at the pace that we were, we would start doing things just. Just for the videos because we didn't need anything else and we didn't really want to do that and we didn't feel like that's really what we should be doing. Like, we've put in a. A lot of work over 10 years. Yeah. And we felt like, God says at some point, like, you should enjoy the fruits of your labor.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: And we couldn't.
[00:05:02] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:03] Speaker C: So did. Did you.
Did you grieve?
Like, I've. I've lost a creative outlet or has it just felt freeing, I think for.
[00:05:16] Speaker A: Me, I didn't necessarily grieve not having a creative outlet, but I felt like I would have ideas of things to do and be well, gosh, that would be a really great video. I think our audience would really like that. Or I would make something new for dinner that I had never made before. And it turned out really well. And I thought, gosh, this would be a really neat video to share, you know, doing different techniques in the garden or something like that. So it was odd for me to say, say to myself, that would be a really good video, and then be like, well, we're not really doing that anymore.
But it was. It was really just kind of nice to have those things just be for our Family and not for basically the public.
[00:06:05] Speaker D: So you, you just mentioned family and not doing those things anymore. One of the things that has happened amongst all of the other things is you're now empty nesters, like full up.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:06:17] Speaker D: The house is quieter.
What did it feel like whenever, you know, that first week when you're like, wow, it's really just Kevin and Sarah now.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, it was kind of a, it was a, a transition because at first we were only empty nesters, like Monday through Thursday because Samantha would come home from college and be home on the weekend. So we were empty nesters during the week, but on the weekend we still had family in the house.
But when we became like full time empty nesters, it was a good change. It was definitely different.
I think we just understood and realized the ultimate freedom that we had within the house as a, as a, you know, married couple. You know, it was, it was just kind of nice.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: Right.
[00:07:14] Speaker D: You know, was it, was it hard to stop cooking and canning and growing and preserving when you don't have an army to feed, like making that shift to. I don't need an, you know, a casserole size. This size. This is two people.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: I don't think it was as hard to, to scale down in the, in the kitchen. It was much harder for us to scale down in the garden and in how much just overall food we produced. And we really struggled with that over the last four years as Grace left the house and then as Samantha went to college and was only at home on the weekends because we just always felt like we needed to be doing in the garden and raising animals for meat and everything and eggs. We always felt like we just needed to keep doing more and more and more, you know, for, for our family a little bit for YouTube and videos. But so I think that was much harder to get used to not having to produce as much food.
Harder than like not making us much food in, in the kitchen.
[00:08:19] Speaker C: I would say we, we relate to that from a, even from a farm perspective. This, how you scale what you're doing is, is really a difficult thing because for us it was. We don't know what the mark, you know, what the market is.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: Right.
[00:08:34] Speaker C: What are we going to sell and what can't we. So like that decision on how much to produce. I can see how that's definitely something that.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: Well, it can be scary. I mean, we, we, we have somewhat of, I don't know. I know the word prepper is kind of demonized, but like, we have that mindset of like, we we want. And we always want more than we currently need. Right. Like, we. We want full freezers, and we want extra canned goods on the shelves. And so, like, to make that decision of, like, where is that fine line now?
Was tough. Like, you know, like, this year we didn't raise any pigs. This is the first year in 10 years we haven't raised pigs because we still had, you know, last year we raised two pigs like we always do, and we didn't eat nearly as much pork as we used to. So, like, there are times now where, like, things may not be every year, they may be every other year, or they may be really scaled back when we do them. And so, yeah, it's. It's different.
[00:09:36] Speaker C: It's so with an empty nest and a bit of a pause with YouTube, do you look around the homestead and say, what now?
[00:09:49] Speaker B: I don't know. No, because there's always work to do. I mean, you know, there's. You know, I think I looked at one time and I figured we have, like, you know, seven miles of fence on our property. You know what I mean?
[00:10:02] Speaker D: Like, and it always needs work done right.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: Somewhere.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: Right. I mean, you know, half of our fence is still held up by the poles that were put in in 1940.
You know what I mean? It's like, you go and you put t posts where you absolutely need them, and, you know, but, like, so find a good tree.
Right?
[00:10:21] Speaker A: Right.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah. So. So, no, there's never, like, what should we do today? I mean, there's always something to do. You know, I think where it's. Where it's been nice is, like, now we're getting into hunting season, and I love to hunt, and, like, I don't feel guilty about saying, I'm gonna go sit in the woods for eight hours.
You know what I mean? Like, I'm not neglecting something else because this is what I want to and this is what I'm going to do today.
[00:10:48] Speaker D: So homesteaders, small farmers, anyone who's trying to live this type of lifestyle, it's work, plan work.
And our generation especially, you know, we're. We just work.
How has it been to figure out how to go and rest and learn how to rest and not feel that guilt.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: I think it's just been a mindset change, right? You know, we've. We've realized that we just need to not be so busy. And it was affecting our health. It was re. It was affecting our relationships. It was. You know, we have a very strong marriage. But to say that that wasn't affecting Our marriage would be, you know, a lie. We're still in a great place. We really always were in a great place. But to be that busy all the time, not healthy in a lot of ways.
[00:11:45] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: I think one of the benefits that we've seen through stopping YouTube has been we now have the time and opportunity to do the things that were always put on the back burner of getting done because we always needed to move on to the next thing. To move on to the next thing. Well, the next video. The next video. And, you know, sometimes things weren't put away sometimes. Sometimes gardens weren't put to bed.
Sometimes, you know, my shop hasn't been.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: Cleaned in three years. You know what I mean?
[00:12:20] Speaker A: Like, things that just were not immediate needs just never got done. You know, this week we just, like, really did a final mowing and weeding for the fall. We've never done that before, you know, because it's always the next video, the next video, the next video. And those things can just. They're not. They're not.
They're not essential. So they just fell by the wayside.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Right.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: So now we get to do those things in a timely manner and feel good about that.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: Right.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: You know, and so I think that has been a huge benefit for us.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: Yeah, it's been a shift. I mean, to.
To. To do work because you want to or to do work solely for, like, not monetary benefit, but, like, just personal benefit is, like, different. You know what I mean? Like, it's just like Sarah said, it's a mind shift of, like, so have.
[00:13:16] Speaker D: You been able to.
Or is there a way for us types to find joy without productivity because we're such.
[00:13:29] Speaker C: Were you productive today or not? Maybe not even joy. Maybe just contentment.
[00:13:32] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:13:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:34] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: I have really felt like it's just an attention shift for me. Like, I'm still getting work done, but it's allowed my mind to not be so consumed with what needs to be done. What needs to be done. You know, I really can enjoy just cutting back these flowers or trimming up this tree and just having the ability to really love the environment I'm in at the time.
[00:14:04] Speaker C: So a lot of folks talk about finding the ability to live in the moment. Has this freed you to do that?
[00:14:11] Speaker B: For sure, for sure. Yeah. But. But at the same point, like, I'm thinking about, like, okay, so we spent a lot of time this summer fishing, and we would go to the lake and some. We would even spend, like a couple days at the lake sometimes, like, because of the type of people we are, like, when we go to the lake, we don't really, like, we go to fish.
So, like, we don't go there to, like, get up at like, 9 or 10 in the morning to go fishing. We get up at, you know, 4:30.
So we're on the lake when the water, you know, when the sun comes up, because that's the best time to fish, you know. And so, like, even then, even in our hobbies, like, we push ourselves. Like, it's not.
And it's still super relaxing and super fun, but, like, maybe not in the way that a lot of people would think. You know what I mean? Like, so I don't know, though.
[00:15:07] Speaker A: I feel like when we've been fishing, you know, in the times where we're not like. Like just hitting the fish, you know what I mean? When you're just sitting there waiting for the fish to bite or whatever you're doing.
I've really enjoyed the moments of just being able to mindlessly look at nature and just appreciate God's creation and the water and the trees and the bald eagles and just really being in the seasons. And, you know, the butterflies. We saw so many monarch butterflies in their migration just flying over the lake.
[00:15:45] Speaker B: In the middle of the lake just in the last. The last month. It was crazy.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: 55, 100. Just so many of them. And so just to be in a flocks of pelicans.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: Do you know pelicans fly in a. Like a V? Like geese? Like, I've never seen that before, but.
[00:16:01] Speaker C: Like, I did, but I didn't. I've never seen a pelican in Missouri.
[00:16:05] Speaker D: Not in Missouri.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: Yeah, they migrate. Actually, just in the last month, we've seen many of them in the lake and then like, huge fox of them flying over.
[00:16:13] Speaker D: I heard some really loud birds whenever y'.
[00:16:15] Speaker C: All.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: One day.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, we saw a stealth bomber flyover while we were out fishing, whatever.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: Yeah, we've seen all kinds of things. So to be in a mindset where you. Your mind isn't so busy that you can't notice everything that. That you don't have the ability to notice.
[00:16:33] Speaker D: So do you think that us generation of, like, doers has really just lost sight of that?
[00:16:39] Speaker A: Oh, it's possible.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: Yeah. I think it's very hard to appreciate what the hard work has gotten you.
I mean, I think it's hard to stop and say, this is good.
We've accomplished a lot.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: Yeah, it's enough. And we can. We can slow down.
[00:17:00] Speaker C: So when the to do list and the cameras got put away, what did you learn about each other?
[00:17:09] Speaker A: What did we learn about each other?
[00:17:11] Speaker B: I think we learned that we still really like each other.
[00:17:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: At least I still like her.
[00:17:16] Speaker A: It was really. It was. It has been a really great thing to.
I mean, we've. We've been together 247 since we've moved here for 10 years, you know, but.
[00:17:27] Speaker B: And even before that, we worked for the same company, so we were in the same building all day.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: For 10 years prior to that.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: It was. It's been really great.
It's been. We really do love being together, and it's allowed us to be even more silly together.
I don't know. It's been great.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:46] Speaker D: A good reconnection in a way that you cannot.
Our. Our private life doesn't always come across on. On camera.
[00:17:55] Speaker B: Right.
[00:17:56] Speaker D: In the public. And as former viewers of you guys, you can tell that you get along on the camera like that. You guys probably like each other, you know, because that's even the. Even if you could fake it, we can tell that you like each other.
But off of camera, to be able to reconnect without the stress and the pressures of what's next? What's next? What's next?
[00:18:21] Speaker B: That reconnection, and especially with the kids being gone, I mean, it's.
It's a lot like going back to what we were like when we were first married. I mean, so it's like you go from, like, a couple to parents back.
[00:18:37] Speaker A: To a couple, and it's been great.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:41] Speaker D: That's awesome.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: I do feel like we've gotten even, like, oh, my gosh, we've been married forever. But I feel like we've even gotten closer, you know, since we've been off of YouTube and spent so much time really fishing together, where we literally are together 24 7.
[00:18:56] Speaker D: Have there been any surprises to each of you about, like, in this new season? Like, oh, I. I didn't know I was gonna like that or enjoy that or. Have there. Have there. Have there been any things that have popped up? I'm like, wow, I've really missed that.
[00:19:10] Speaker A: I think Kevin's surprised at what a good fisher person I am.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: And that, like, you know, sometimes you.
[00:19:17] Speaker D: Just win the tournament.
[00:19:19] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure.
[00:19:23] Speaker D: Because she's out fishing you. That's okay. I out fish him sometimes, too.
Sometimes.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: Normally, I would catch the biggest fish, but she would. That is very often catch more.
[00:19:32] Speaker A: I think it's the opposite, really. I think very often you would catch more, but I always catch the biggest.
But if you want to Think that I catch the most, that's okay.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: If you want to think I catch the biggest, that's okay.
[00:19:49] Speaker C: So you spent years teaching millions of people.
Have.
Has it been hard to step away from that?
[00:20:00] Speaker B: Yes. I mean, because we really did it because we felt like that's what God was telling us to do. And, like, we stayed at it as long as we did because of that.
So it was.
It was not an easy decision to just walk away. I mean, it was. It may have seemed abrupt to those people who watch us because we didn't. We didn't want to be one of those channels who, like, threatens to leave or.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: Or complains about.
[00:20:29] Speaker B: Or complains about it or says we might leave, but doesn't like.
So when we finally pulled the trigger, it seemed abrupt, but we had contemplated that decision for probably two years, which, you guys, as our friends off of YouTube, you know, that, like, that was a big decision we had thought about for a long time.
[00:20:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:52] Speaker B: Before we announced the decision.
[00:20:54] Speaker C: Yeah. We watched you struggle through it.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:57] Speaker A: Yeah. And we. We ran the numbers for probably a year before we felt comfortable pulling the trigger, which is actually very similar to what we did when we left corporate America. I mean, we were running the numbers for a long time before we felt comfortable pulling the trigger and leaving.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: Yeah, we're just. We're not the type of people to make.
I don't say we never make bad decisions, but, like, we don't. Right. We don't make quick decisions, and we don't make uninformed decisions.
[00:21:24] Speaker D: Rash. You don't make rash decisions.
[00:21:26] Speaker B: Right.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:30] Speaker C: So how are you being able to balance living a private life and yet knowing that your life still inspires others?
Like, how are you. How are you being able to find a balance there?
[00:21:47] Speaker A: Go ahead if you haven't.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: I don't know. I'm like, we still. I mean, we still meet people all the time that watch us on.
On YouTube.
It was a. It was kind of nice one. Like, the summer when we were up at the lake and things like that. That bear, I think twice all summer. Did we meet someone who knew who we were, and it was kind of nice to just be away and just.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: Anonymous.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: Anonymous, yeah. You know, when we started YouTube, we would have never imagined that it would first of all turn into what it did or that, like, people right around us would watch us. It always seemed like this is something that people far away will watch. Right. Like, and we'll never actually meet people who watch us. And we've. We've really enjoyed meeting people who Watch us. I mean, I'm not complaining about that, but it just.
It's different. I can imagine what, like, actual celebrities go through, like, not, you know, because, like, we'll go to Costco, we might see four or five people who know us from YouTube and want to stop and talk, and that's great.
But, like, I can only imagine, like, actual celebrities who really can't go anywhere because everybody knows them. I mean, it's. It. It's got to be a real struggle.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: And so, yeah, I feel like over the last six months, we've been recognized less, and it's been. It's been kind of nice. You know, it's. It's never been a terrible thing to be recognized in public, and we've always appreciated people who come up and say hello and those kinds of things. And, you know, we've. It's amazing to us how many families we've touched and inspired or whatever.
[00:23:32] Speaker B: I get. I don't get recognized because I grew my hair out and I grew a beard. Sarah hasn't aged in, like, 10 years, so she still looks exactly the same. So the only time I get recognized anymore is when I'm with her, and then people look at her and are like, who's the hippie? I saw that.
[00:23:49] Speaker C: I saw that comment.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: Oh, that's why you left YouTube, because you divorced Kevin and married that guy.
[00:23:55] Speaker D: So you taught and inspired people for all of these years, and as you move on to your next phase, if it's quieter and you have more privacy, what. Especially, like, even through this podcast, what. What example would you want them to take away now from what you're doing now?
Because your. Your teaching and your inspiration can carry over past preserving and gardening and into a message of.
This is good, too.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Right? I think learning that just.
It was a big change for us to learn to live seasonally, as in, like, the year.
Like, we used to try to push and push and push all year long, and then at some point, we were like, you know what? God made the seasons for a reason, and we should probably try to be slower in the winter. We should probably try to, you know, eat seasonally and all these different things. I think it's also okay to look at life and say, God made these different seasons of life, and we should probably try to live within the season of life we're in.
And I think we're at the season now. Like, I'm turning 50 next month. Sarah's turning 50 in January.
And, like, we're in a season of life now where it's okay to not be as crazy as we were when we were 30.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: And it's okay to start looking forward to the seasons of life of our kids, you know? You know, Grace is married, and we'll be finishing her master's degree in the summer. And maybe the next season for us to enjoy will be to be grandparents.
And that is really exciting.
[00:25:39] Speaker C: That is cool.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: Really exciting.
[00:25:41] Speaker C: So as life has. Has settled into sort of a new rhythm, do you find yourself thinking, man, I. I'm. I'm dreaming about this or that. Is there something that you feel like?
I mean, we've definitely talked about fishing, and we know that.
[00:25:57] Speaker B: Is there.
[00:25:58] Speaker C: Is there something else that you're like, man, now I have time for.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: Well, I am excited for being a grandpa at someday. I. I really never had. My one grandpa on my mom's side died when he was 49, so I never knew him. And my grandpa on my dad's side died when he was 60, so I really don't have a lot of memory. So, like, I, you know, along the years, I've had people in my life that I would kind of consider grandpa figures. But, like, I'm excited to be that someday. Like, I'm excited to do those things and teach grandkids things and have the time to do it. And so that. That's. I'm ready for that.
[00:26:37] Speaker A: And we're still discovering what not being on YouTube through different seasons is all about for us.
[00:26:44] Speaker B: Right?
[00:26:45] Speaker A: Because we're coming in while we're in fall. You know, our fishing season is pretty much over with, and then, you know, winter is coming and the. The holidays. Like, this is our fall first holiday season and fall and winter, that we haven't been on YouTube since we left our jobs in corporate America, so we don't even know what that looks like for us. Like a fall and a winter of not filming videos and figuring out what, you know, one to three videos a week looks like. I mean, not. We don't even know what we're going to do this fall and winter. We're still figuring that out. So we don't even know what that future looks like for us. And honestly, it's really exciting.
It's exciting to try to figure out what we're gonna do over the fall and the winter.
[00:27:34] Speaker C: That's cool.
[00:27:34] Speaker A: Yeah. Maybe we'll get your shop cleaned.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: That'd be nice.
I'm not holding my breath.
[00:27:43] Speaker C: Do you ever feel pressure to keep producing, to do more?
[00:27:48] Speaker A: We get feedback from people hoping that we're gonna come back on a schedule.
[00:27:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Even, even people at church, like, ask us all the time, like, do you miss doing YouTube? Are you going to start making videos again? You know, and we left it open ended when we left YouTube. We, we didn't say we were quitting. We said we were taking a long break. Yeah.
And we don't know.
You know, we did a video last week that was our first video in six months. We may do videos here and there.
What we know is we won't put the pressure on ourselves ever again to the degree that we used to. So.
[00:28:24] Speaker C: So making the video last week, did it feel good? Did it feel bad? Was it like, wow, that was, that was really cool. We were able to connect, reconnect, or was it a bit of a.
I.
[00:28:36] Speaker B: Mean, yes, it felt good to be able to reconnect. I mean, but it also, I don't know, maybe it wasn't a long enough. Maybe six months isn't really. It just felt like we just picked back up.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:28:48] Speaker D: Well, for the viewers, it was really nice to see your faces on there.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And we, you know, and even after all this time, we, we still feel some loyalty.
[00:28:58] Speaker D: Oh, for sure.
[00:28:58] Speaker B: To every. I mean, like, you know, our channel got to where it was because of the people who watched us. Like, we really don't feel like we're anything special. We really don't feel like what we do is anything that special.
But we do know that we made a connection with people.
[00:29:16] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:29:16] Speaker B: And we do still feel some almost guilt about letting people down.
[00:29:24] Speaker D: If you were to give advice to yourself five years ago, before this transition, what would it be?
[00:29:37] Speaker A: I don't think I'd do anything differently. No, I really don't.
I mean, this was a huge blessing for us.
[00:29:47] Speaker B: Right.
[00:29:48] Speaker A: And you know, we were called to do this and we said, okay. And we have, we really feel like we've fulfilled our assignment.
[00:29:56] Speaker B: Right. You know, five years ago was the whole like Covid time. And we really felt a calling during that time. Like, we really felt like people were locked in their houses, people were worried about the food supply and all of these things. And we really felt like God was telling us, like people right now need a message of like, there is another way. And that's what we wanted to get through to people was like, you may be in a big city right now, locked in your house. I mean, you guys were there that you guys were there. So, like. But out here in the country, life goes on.
[00:30:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:33] Speaker B: We're still raising our chickens and killing pigs and you know what I mean? Like, there, there is a way out of that.
Like, as crazy as our life was here in the country, ultimately it was not the craziness of life in the city at that point.
[00:30:51] Speaker C: I shared that with you the first time I met you at the farmer's market when you came over to speak to us and introduce yourself and say hi.
It was a, you know, standard. I'm sure you hear from everybody, but I know you don't know me, but I feel like I know you and I just want to tell you thank you.
[00:31:08] Speaker B: Right.
[00:31:08] Speaker C: For the, the life that you showed me when I was living in the suburbs of Washington D.C. and driving into the Pentagon every day during that, the, the pandemic lockdown and I had to have travel papers and, and you know, a mask on my face all the time. And like, I literally couldn't leave the house without paper saying that I was allowed to be outside and to come home in the afternoon and turn it on and watch you guys just living life and.
[00:31:43] Speaker B: Right.
[00:31:43] Speaker C: And being normal and being self sufficient, being.
[00:31:47] Speaker D: When you feel trapped in a situation that feels very scary and you're very out of control and you see people that are growing and doing and being self sufficient and very in control.
[00:32:05] Speaker B: Right.
[00:32:05] Speaker D: It gives you a sense of hope.
[00:32:09] Speaker C: Yeah, there's. There's got to be something on the other side of this. You know, not everybody is in this life that I'm experiencing right now.
[00:32:17] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:32:17] Speaker C: And it was, it was a huge, huge boost for, for us, definitely.
[00:32:24] Speaker B: Right.
[00:32:25] Speaker C: Like, it, it.
You guys and those like you at that moment in time. It was, it was definitely from God, I would say like, you were, you were a hope to people that were, I don't know, after a few months it was starting to feel hopeless.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: Right.
[00:32:42] Speaker C: And watching you guys just.
You're free.
[00:32:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:46] Speaker B: And we've heard, we've heard that from quite a few people, countless people. And, and you know, we, we hear that from, you know, especially during that time frame. But you know, we also hear that from, you know, we'll get comments from people who have battled cancer or, and like, you know, like the whole time I was going through chemo, like we watched your, I watched your videos and it gave me this sense of like, calm and you know, so like that part of it mentally when it comes like leaving and, and like, gosh, that's a lot of like, we don't want to let people down, you know what I mean? But, but at the same point, we don't want to let ourselves down either by becoming something that we weren't so.
[00:33:31] Speaker D: What does the perfect day look like in your lives now?
And don't tell me getting up at 4:30 to go fishing.
[00:33:41] Speaker B: Well, that's pretty perfect.
We do not get up at 4:30 when we're home. No, we're more like 6, 6:30 kind of people.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: I guess.
I'm up normally earlier than you.
[00:33:54] Speaker B: You shouldn't have normally.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: Perfect day. I would say perfect day would be, you know, get up when the sun starts coming up, have some wonderful coffee, sit, and, you know, just kind of either read a little bit or on our phones a little bit and then get up and do chores. We've both been really focusing on how we can remain active with not necessarily having to do as much physical work.
And I don't know, you're gonna have.
[00:34:27] Speaker D: To be a lot more intentional about what you do through the day because if you've downsized in how much labor.
[00:34:37] Speaker B: Right.
[00:34:37] Speaker D: Is required, now you have to intentionally build that in somehow.
[00:34:43] Speaker B: Right.
[00:34:43] Speaker D: To keep up your, you know, physical health.
[00:34:47] Speaker B: Yeah. I think the beauty of this season of life is that we don't have our days planned out like we get up in the morning. I mean, we do our basic chores, and then other than that, we pretty much do what we want. You know what I mean? Or do what I mean. Obviously, what needs to be done. But, like, then there's always time for the. Like, what do we want to do today?
[00:35:10] Speaker A: Yeah, and that's.
[00:35:12] Speaker B: That's been odd.
[00:35:14] Speaker D: Live in the Dream 2.0.
[00:35:16] Speaker B: Right, right, right. Like, the first 10 years here in Missouri was like, build the dream, and now it's like, live the dream.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: Right.
[00:35:25] Speaker C: So what does it mean to you to live living traditions without the camera on?
[00:35:34] Speaker B: I don't think it's that much different other than that part of it being gone. I mean, the farm feels the same. We have the same, you know, like, we always have big family dinner on Sunday with our kids and my parents, and everybody's there.
You know, we do the same church routine. I mean, we.
I mean, life isn't much different than what everybody saw on video.
[00:36:00] Speaker A: Right.
[00:36:00] Speaker B: I'm still smoking meat sticks and Sarah's in the kitchen and can and stuff, and we're working in the garden and I mean, like, making good food.
I loved.
[00:36:10] Speaker A: I still love to make good food. And now I just, you know, share it with our kids and our family rather than on YouTube. Right. It's still all about the food. It's always been about the food.
[00:36:21] Speaker B: Right.
[00:36:21] Speaker A: It's still all about.
[00:36:22] Speaker B: And this whole lifestyle is. I mean, that I used to joke when people would ask, like, what is homesteading? It's. It's like 90% of our day is revolved around food. Growing food, cooking food, saving food, killing food. It's like now we.
[00:36:39] Speaker A: Now, now we just spend 50 or 25% of the summer catching the food out of the, out of the water, out of the lake.
[00:36:46] Speaker B: Right? Yeah. Even our hobby revolves around food.
[00:36:49] Speaker C: That's awesome.
[00:36:50] Speaker B: Right?
[00:36:51] Speaker C: Yeah. We recently did a podcast and we talked about the amount of time throughout the course of human history that was spent on food and time and resources and how we've gotten to the point where it's 10% or less of our resources to include time are spent on food and how.
How it's. It's maybe. Maybe a bit skewed, you know, and might be time to focus a little bit more time and resources.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: Absolutely right. I mean, the quality has gone down, our health has gone down. I mean, if we spend more time and more of our financial resources and our time resources into food, we'll all be healthier and happier.
[00:37:33] Speaker B: Right.
[00:37:34] Speaker A: You know, it's just a matter of prioritizing it and I guess, you know, for 10 plus years has just been a priority for us and it still is.
Yeah.
[00:37:44] Speaker C: Awesome. Well, Kevin and Sarah, thank you so much for sharing with us. It's awesome to have an open conversation and be able to dig a little bit deeper than. Than what you might have time for in a. In a quick update, so.
[00:37:58] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:37:59] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:37:59] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you.
