[Marty] It's like a jungle in here.
[bird squawking]
Oh.
Any alligators in here?
You ever heard that expression,
"Fish out of water?"
Well, you're looking at one now.
As far as the eye can see, it's swamped.
I'm gonna take all the precautions I can
'cause I don't want to spend the weekend dead.
They're in over their heads
in the swamp.
Alligators are privy for survival.
I have to worry about my kids going outside.
I'm worried about them getting attacked.
Oh, my...
[Marty] Is that the mother?
I don't want to be holding this.
[Deborah] The flooding is destroying
this whole homestead.
You win the saddest garden award.
I'm at a loss right now.
I don't even know what to do anymore.
[Misty] They have 22 acres of what?
Freestanding water filled with gators?
[theme music playing]
[narrator] Marty Raney, master builder
and stonemason.
[Marty] I don't see problems on homesteads,
I see challenges.
[narrator] Daughter Misty,
garden and food preservation expert.
[Misty] I believe you can grow food anywhere.
[narrator] And son Matt, skilled craftsman
and predator protection.
-[Matt] Wildlife is a constant threat... -[dog barking]
...but I draw the line
between their home and your homestead.
[narrator] Together, they use Alaskan know-how...
-Let's find some power! -[Misty] Yeah!
[narrator] ...and ingenuity...
[Marty laughs] It's perfect!
[narrator] ...to save the off-grid dreams
of desperate homesteaders.
[Marty] We work every second
we can trying to help complete strangers.
That's who we are.
[instrumental music playing]
[cawing]
[Marty] Our very first homestead in Florida.
What does Alaska and Florida have in common?
It starts with an "S".
[Misty] Snakes.
Snow?
[Marty] Out of all 50 states, Alaska has the most swamp.
Second is Florida.
I'm gonna tell you a statistic and don't forget it.
You're ten times more likely
to get killed by an alligator
than you are by a bear in Alaska.
What?
[Marty] Yes.
[narrator] The Raneys respond to their first ever SOS
from the swamplands of central Florida,
where dense vegetation, dangerous wildlife,
and volatile weather have been challenging settlers
since Ponce de Leon
first stepped on the continent over 500 years ago.
While tropical temperatures provide a year-round growing season,
hurricanes and torrential rains
cause massive flooding, making farming
or raising livestock almost impossible.
While dangerous predators like the Florida panther,
the Burmese python and the American alligator,
make any outdoor activity a risk to life and limb.
It is here that the Haas family
finds themselves near the jaws...
[growling]
...of disaster.
I'm Christina Haas.
I live with my two daughters
on a 22-acre homestead.
I purchased this homestead in April of this year.
It had the home on it.
It had a pond, almost 22 acres
and I was able to visualize
making this property work.
[narrator] Christina brought her homestead dream from one paradise
to what she thought was another
to be closer to family.
[Christina] I was living on Maui for a little over four years
and my dad was sick,
so I decided to move back to Florida
to spend some time with him.
[Deborah] It's a beautiful piece of property.
It's ten minutes away from our home.
But the rains in Florida, especially in the summer
during hurricane season, are torrential.
[thunderclap]
[Christina] The water was flowing into
the garage of the house,
the water was flooding out the side of the yard.
[narrator] And as the swamp waters rose,
Christina quickly found out she had another deadly threat...
alligators.
[Christina] We have seen a gator in the pond.
We've also heard alligators around the property.
[Deborah] We're very fearful for her to be outside
with the kids in the yard.
She has 22 acres of property
that she can't let her children go out and play
because you have to be worried that they're gonna
get chased by an alligator.
[Christina] We've been unable to plant any gardens,
we have not gotten any animals on the property
because we don't have a safe place for them to stay.
[Deborah] Christina is desperate for help.
We have always been that source of hope for her,
and we've kind of reached a breaking point.
[Christina] My father is almost 70 years old.
He's always coming out here
trying to help me,
and he has his physical limitations.
My mom works full time and she tries to come out here
and help when she can.
I'm getting old for this stuff,
I don't know how much I can keep up with it.
I try to do more I can just for her.
I'm just worried about her.
[Christina] When I took on the property,
I could never even imagine how bad it was gonna be.
[narrator] Desperate, Christina's parents
reached out to the Raneys for one last hope
to save their daughter's dream.
[Christina] We've poured our heart, our soul into this property,
and it's very overwhelming.
[instrumental music playing]
[Misty] Hello?
Is there alligators in here?
[Christina laughing] Yes.
-[Misty] Could be. -[all laughing]
[Marty] Nice to meet you all.
[Misty] First of all,
that right there, looks really scary.
This close to your front door.
[Christina] It's very close.
And we've seen alligators in the pond,
we've also heard alligators
because they make a grunting noise,
-so you can hear them-- -From your house?
Yes.
We had a lot of rain, so out there,
it's pretty swampy right now
Coming from Alaska to Florida,
I'm realizing that this isn't an easy place to homestead.
We have swamps,
but they're not filled with gators and snakes.
And when you combine that with storms and flooding,
like clearly, this isn't gonna be easy.
[Christina] When I was living in Hawaii,
we had fruit trees, we had lots of vegetables.
We had plants that we were able to donate to people.
I originally started my nonprofit
to help with educating people
how to grow their own food
and also farm and help people with food cost.
[Deborah] Christina got that idea
just because raising a family as a single mom
food was expensive,
and it was hard for her to be able to shop.
During this time, my father had come out
to Hawaii to help me.
In Hawaii, I noticed my dad's health issues.
I didn't think I was going to get
to spend much time with him.
So that was the main reason we came back to Florida
was because of my father's health issues.
[Deborah] When Christina left Hawaii
to come back to Florida, she lost her dream.
We started looking for properties
so that she could not only have her own homestead again,
but that she could expand on her dream of
building her nonprofit and helping others.
[Mike] Christina can't keep up
with it right now the way it is.
I'm getting too old
to do this property and my property at the same time.
[Christina] We have considered selling the property
due to how difficult it's been for us to keep it up.
We worry about animals,
we worry about flooding.
If there's going to be any more major issues,
we're not gonna be able
to sustain the property ourselves.
This looks a little suspicious right here.
-[Deborah] This is an alligator slide... -[Marty] Okay.
...and it's where the alligator
comes in and out of the water.
-[Marty] This activity looks fresh to me right here. -Yeah.
There's been an alligator coming in and out of here.
-Yeah, they're... -It's here right now.
-It's here. -I mean, how far away is it?
He's hiding from us. We don't know where he is.
[narrator] The American alligator,
one of only two alligator species in the world,
is well adapted to the freshwater bodies
of central Florida.
Growing up to 14 feet in length,
these ambush predators
can hold their breath for hours at a time
allowing them to remain camouflaged
while waiting for unsuspecting prey.
Once their target is near,
the alligator rushes out of the water,
bites down with almost 3,000 pounds
of pressure, and performs a death roll
to drown and dismember their kill before consumption.
[Marty] How do you keep alligators
from taking over your homestead?
I'm not sure.
I've never seen anyone selling gator fence.
But this homestead needs one.
Let's look at some more land.
[Deborah] All right, so in here you can see, too,
-it's down low and water. -[Marty] Oh, yeah. Lots of water.
So I think it just goes all around.
And the problem that we had when we had
all that rain this summer, was this filled up
and then it started back flowing into the yard,
and it came right up to the house.
[Marty] Let's go look at that area where it flooded please.
Florida is known for hurricanes
and four, five, six inches of rain at a time.
That turns into flooding, and it compromises everything
and the few acres that these guys have,
that already isn't underwater.
Well, it looks like a jungle.
It doesn't look like an easy fix.
I'll stand right here on day one and tell you
the hardest thing that I can do on a homestead
is taming Mother Nature.
It's a tough thing to fix water.
[Misty] The biggest concern of mine
is seeing free-standing water
kind of everywhere I look.
You have this amazing growing season,
but the moment I try to add any outdoor garden,
-what is protecting it? -Right.
And that's what we originally wanted to use this cleared area over here,
until it started raining
and there was about this much water over there.
-[Misty] Yeah. -So of course I can't put plants there
if they're gonna be underwater.
[thunder rumbling]
[narrator] June to November is tropical storm season in Florida,
bringing torrential rain, thunderstorms and tornados.
But the most powerful and wide-reaching
are hurricanes,
which can bring sustained wind speeds
of more than 150 miles per hour
and severe flooding.
The last significant hurricane to hit Florida,
Hurricane Ian, left 161 dead
and damage costing 112 billion in its wake.
[Misty] There's so much going on this homestead
because not only are you up against it
when it comes to all the different types of predators,
but they're trying to homestead in a swamp.
So this is the one place
where we could meet a challenge
that we're not able to solve.
Have you moved any plants into the ground?
[Christina] We do not have any in the ground.
What we originally wanted to do was
make some raised garden beds.
But we found out when it was pouring rain down here that
that area floods.
We had a beautiful garden in Hawaii.
We had so much growing over there
and we were able to actually help people
as well as educate them on how to grow their own food.
So we've been trying to get that nonprofit going here.
It's just been a struggle so far.
[Misty] Okay, so this is the saddest, maybe.
You win the saddest garden award.
I'd love to be able to get Christina back to the place
where she's running her nonprofit again.
But let's be real here.
You have to get to a place where you're feeding yourself and your family first.
So that's gonna be my ultimate goal.
That's gonna be where I start first.
[instrumental music playing]
[Matt] So this is a really amazing structure.
What does your family have planned for this pole barn?
We really have planned
to like, get some chickens and goats in here,
so that we could have eggs.
[Matt] A structure like this is amazing for livestock
because it keeps 'em out of the sun,
it allows the wind to blow through.
And I think when you look for the best spot to put
a chicken coop and then maybe an area that we can wall off
and then extend outside and inside
for a goat pen.
I've heard gators over this way and over there.
[Matt] Really?
[Katarina] Yeah.
[Matt] If we're gonna bring chickens on this homestead,
I'm definitely gonna have to make them safe
because they're gonna be the smallest livestock
and the easiest prey for an alligator.
I mean, you think like, alligators have walked right here?
Probably.
This close?
Closer?
So we'd have to get rid of all this grass and brush
and make this area a little bit less enticing
for anything to come crawl out during the day.
[Marty] All right. So...
[exhales] The sun's setting and guess what's coming out?
Gators. They're about to start making those noises right over there.
They hear it almost every night.
But more importantly than that, I had no idea
that this 22 acres was 80% covered in water.
I thought it was gonna be a lot easier
to homestead in Florida, and I'm finding out it's not.
You're dealing with the subtropics,
but you have all these crazy predators.
You're not on a homestead.
You're in a swamp stead.
They have 22 acres of what?
Freestanding water filled with gators?
I took a little walk with Katarina and Isabella
and checked out the pole barn.
And, man, it is really cool.
So we have to build something
that's gonna help this homestead generate food now.
But I would never want to bring livestock into that pole barn
unless it was safe.
[Marty] What do I know about hurricanes?
Not much. What do I know about alligators?
Less.
These homesteaders are living with both.
So together, we join forces
and hopefully can solve any problem.
I don't know how you homestead in a swamp,
but that's what we're forced to do.
I think we just focus on you
and figuring out a garden space
that will work on this homestead.
I'm ready.
This family was interested in getting chickens or goats.
Guess what? You've got more than enough space
for some chickens and goats to spare.
And you could even turn part into an interior run
and let the animals run around in there,
-somewhere they can get locked up, be safe at night. -Awesome.
Whatever we build or whatever we plant
-is susceptible to flooding. -Right.
To control the flooding
that you just talked about is not gonna be easy.
Mother Nature is a tough foe.
That said,
-I want to see those two girls... -[Deborah laughs]
...and their sidekicks
-on the homestead tomorrow. -[Mike laughs]
-We'll all be here together. -[Christina] We'll be here.
[Misty] Good morning.
-You ready to work? Everybody looks pumped. -[Christina] We are.
[narrator] It's day two on the Haas homestead in central Florida.
But before the rescue gets underway...
What?
[narrator] Matt arranges a crash course
on the homestead's scaly menace.
-[Misty] Oh, my gosh! -Is that thing alive?
All right, stand back, everyone.
We call those swamp puppies.
[Misty] No.
[Matt] Everybody, I'd like you to meet Alan.
[hissing]
What was that sound?
It's just breathing.
My family is not experts
in all things alligator,
but I do know somebody who's grown up here
and knows quite a bit
about these dinosaurs
and how to keep people safe.
-Oh, my... -[Marty] Oh, my...
Is that the mother? I don't want to be holding this.
What is that thing?
[Jimmy] My name is Jimmy Riffle,
and we do educational programs
with American alligators.
[Marty] Guys, meet my new friend.
[Jimmy] So Brad here is--
How come he's snorting at me?
[Jimmy] He's just letting you know he's there.
[Marty] Is this a good sign? The laying down?
[Jimmy] Yep, he's relaxing.
[Jimmy] That sun is beating on him,
and I think he's just really enjoying that sun.
[Misty] So we're from Alaska.
We've spent zero time with these animals.
Basically, they've been here forever.
You know, people have lived alongside them forever.
You just got to learn to coexist with them.
The fact that Florida,
man-made or not body of water,
there's an alligator probably living in it,
or has lived in it.
They will sink to the bottom
and they can stay underwater for hours.
-[Misty] Oh, my God! -[Jimmy] Hours.
-No. -[Jimmy] Yes.
[Misty] So how big
do alligators get in Florida?
Males probably get 12-13 feet in length.
[Misty] And how much do they weigh?
So a 12 and a half foot alligator, probably 600,
-700 pounds, you know, give or take. -Oh, my God!
[Jimmy] And, you know, with you having
different wildlife on the property,
they will get larger if their diet is bigger.
[Misty] So obviously, if we try to bring
smaller livestock here,
in this region of Florida,
you would have to figure out
how you're keeping them safe?
You just take certain precautions,
like your waterways, that you have back here,
keeping it mowed down,
keeping the grass low to the ground.
You know, they're ambush predators.
They'll stalk their prey,
especially smaller mammals,
probably pigs, things like that.
They consume those type of animals.
-The garden isn't the draw for alligators? -[Jimmy] No.
If they get into the garden, of course, yes,
they could damage the crops.
So don't build the garden right on the water.
You could build a structure like a small fence,
but they are capable of climbing.
They can climb a fence?
What is... What's that? How high?
Basically five to six foot in height
is a good height for keeping alligators out.
No Raney needs Jimmy Riffle as much as me.
All of this knowledge is kind of getting me thinking
on what my next move is gonna be.
Jimmy, thank you so much.
Because I'm trying to figure out
-how to help Christina... -[Jimmy] Uh-huh.
...right? Coexist with these guys.
What I'm up against.
So that was really informative.
So thanks for coming out.
You're very welcome.
And thank you for having us out to
show you these cool animals.
[instrumental music playing]
[Misty] Let's talk about the solution of actually
growing food for your family.
-[Christina] Okay. -So I would love to build a garden.
I don't think we need to build a greenhouse.
-Florida is a greenhouse. -Right.
There is a year-round growing season here.
This is what I've learned this morning.
Gators are...
the threat is real
to be like this close to a swamp, with this grass,
with this garden space, this is too dangerous.
I definitely need to create a safe garden space,
not only for me to work in and construct,
but also long-term for Christina and her girls
and everybody to be able to garden safely.
We're too close.
This isn't good.
We wanna create a space that's safe enough
for homesteaders to walk around.
We want you and the girls to be able to safely garden.
-So there's a lot of work to do... -Right.
-...to create that space. -[Christina] Okay.
But I would love to be able to put in multiple raised beds
and just see how far we can get.
[narrator] To create a flood and gator-safe garden space,
Misty will first make an eight-foot clearing
providing unobstructed views
to eliminate alligator ambush.
Then she will design and build several raised garden beds
with sheer unclimbable ledges
heavy enough to withstand hurricane winds.
[Misty] Right now, the jungle is pushed right up against the homestead.
And based off of what I've learned with Jimmy,
all this tall grass,
all of these trees, all these vines,
all of this jungle has to go.
[narrator] At the front of the homestead...
[Marty] Here we go.
...Marty sets his sights on storm protection and flood prevention.
[Marty] All right, let's talk.
So I took a little walk in the swamp.
-That land's completely unusable. -Right.
But it does seem like you could gain 30 to 40 feet of land,
-times that distance. -[both] Right.
And to do that might mean we can manage some of that material and build...
a berm.
I think if we can achieve that, this house, that building,
then the pole barn will never flood again.
That's awesome.
You know, we want to fix the flooding issue
-because that is the number one the thing... -Number one.
...that's destroying this whole homestead.
And on that note, let's get started.
[Deborah] Okay.
[narrator] To control flooding caused by extreme weather,
Marty will mine the pond bed for sand,
which he will use to build a 30-foot buffer.
Then he will dig down a swale or drainage ditch
to direct water around the homestead,
using the excess material
to create a three-foot berm embankment
and hold back rising waters during increased rainfall.
So is he gonna try and hit bottom?
Yeah.
[Deborah] Oh, my gosh.
Looks like a lot of sand to me. I like it.
-It did. Yeah! -If you don't mind...
-Keep going. -[Mike chuckles] Keep going.
[Marty] It's ironic how many times a homesteader has a problem
and they're standing on the solution.
The color is changing.
Yeah, that's more sand.
On this homestead, the problem's flooding.
But right here is a massive, thick layer of sand.
Our goal is to get to that sand
and displace it from over here...
to up here.
Stack it up...
and stave off future flooding.
[Marty cheering]
[Misty] Look at this.
There's like a trail right here.
I mean, if this doesn't say "gator",
I don't know what does.
[narrator] On the Haas homestead in central Florida...
[Mike] Watch out for snakes.
[Deborah laughing] Yeah. Check for snakes.
[narrator] ...Matt meets up with Christina and her daughters,
Katarina and Isabella,
to discuss remodeling the pole barn for livestock.
So what does that livestock dream look like to you?
Um, we were definitely looking at goats and chickens
as far as you know, eggs, goat's milk,
maybe cheeses, stuff like that.
And I think that that's the the perfect livestock to start with.
I think we should walk around and really decide
what we could use this whole, entire space for.
Follow me.
[Christina] We've always wanted some sort of livestock,
but we haven't been able to ensure that the animals are safe
from alligators or anything that might threaten their lives.
I like this place for the goats.
Let's just say this is goat, goat zone.
-[Christina] Right. -But then right here,
this would be the chicken coop zone.
How tall are you? Come over here.
[Christina chuckles]
Okay. You can walk right up here when you want some eggs.
Now open up this imaginary door.
Okay, that's a good height about right there.
Now, with your other hand, grab an imaginary egg.
Now say, good chicken.
Good chicken.
[all chuckling]
And then... you have breakfast.
[narrator] Matt's master plan is to create two zones for the livestock,
a pen for the goats with stalls and a milking table,
and a specially crafted chicken coop with egg shoots to make collecting a breeze.
If you will, turn your two daughters loose.
We're going to start working on this coop.
Have fun.
[Matt] My two kids, Ruby and Indy,
they don't learn anything unless it's fun.
So when I started working with these girls,
I knew that I had to make things fun.
Because when they're having fun and they're learning,
they're going to have a lot more skills to contribute to the homestead
long after I leave.
We're going to do a little bit of demolition
because these racks, they're now in our way.
But all this wood is going to be reused and upcycled
to help us build everything we need for chicken coops.
So this right here is an amazing tool.
And it's gonna cut this all apart really clean.
You ever used a SAWZALL before?
-Yep. -Since you've used one before, you can grab this
and then you can grab onto the edge and start prying these boards off.
Here you go.
Wow.
We are having a lot of fun working with Matt.
[Matt] So grab on to that piece of wood
and just pull it this way until it busts off.
Good? Okay.
Nice.
Throw it in the pile.
He's a funny guy, he tells jokes.
Let it rip.
He's pretty cool. He shows us how to correctly use the tools.
Whoo!
Okay. Now...
see if you can get back here and detach these.
All right, cool.
It is really cool to see how the pole barn's transforming.
I'm very interested to see how it turns out.
[Marty] This is really good news.
[narrator] On the back of the homestead,
Marty has an update on efforts to reclaim the swamp.
There was enough sand dredged up from the swamp
to bale up here on top,
and frankly, create some more real estate and high ground.
And the cool thing about sand...
is it drains.
We're this far away from solving the flooding
on the backside of this homestead.
That said, time to clean up.
Clint!
-Sorry. -[Deborah chuckles]
Don't be alarmed. You're going to hear that more than once.
[all laughing]
[Marty] From this homestead,
we're taking trees down, but what do you do with them?
If it's big enough and if it has value,
and if there's a need for lumber, you mill them.
It's a bonus.
Come on in.
We were very fortunate to find this guy.
Thanks for coming.
You're more than welcome.
-Marty Raney. -Marty, Frank Shotto. Nice to meet you.
-Mike Haas. How you doing? -Mike, nice to meet you.
How long have you been in Florida?
I've been in Florida since I was six.
-So, 20 years. -That's a long time.
[chuckles] I wish.
[Marty] I got a question for you.
-Okay, so we got some pine. -[Frank] Mmm-hmm.
We've got some cedar, we're calling it.
There's a number of the cypresses.
[Marty] And what is this?
-Maple? -[Frank] That's the maple.
These are indigenous hardwoods that we deal with down here
from the Vero Beachline in South,
which makes them kind of rare.
I mean, it's a pretty big country, and it's the only portion
of the country you're gonna find them in.
So we should be good to mill all of this.
[Frank] Absolutely.
[Marty] Maple trees are amazing, but I prefer the cypress trees
because that tree is more valuable.
Why? Bugs.
Because in Florida they invade everything.
The good news is we've just logged up a bunch of cypress,
very close cousin to the cedar tree.
A squared off finished product.
What's really cool about cedar and cypress trees...
is that they have a very pleasant aroma...
at least to humans.
But to insects and invasive bugs,
they hate the smell of cedar and cypress.
It's a natural repellent.
Thank you. Thank you.
[Misty] All right.
Christina. Come!
[narrator] As Misty finishes the safety boundary
separating the swamp and the garden,
she calls over Christina to discuss next steps for the raised plant beds.
-Okay! How's it going? -[Christina squeals]
Um, so, how's our buffer?
-I'm loving it. -It's better without the tall grass.
-Check this out. -A lot better.
I gotta show you something.
So...
look at this.
There's like a trail. A total trail right here.
I mean, if this doesn't say, "gator game trail", I don't know what does.
But you can see it go all the way to the swamp...
-Right. In the water. -...and we're super close to the water.
-Oh, yeah. -But...
At least we have that eight foot barrier where we can start working.
-Okay. -And I have this crazy idea,
um, for a garden, and it's time to get started.
-You ready? -I'm ready.
Okay. Let's go.
I thought it was going to be pretty easy to find what I needed
to put this garden in, but actually, it's been really hard.
So we have been sourcing this really weird material,
and I think I have enough where we can actually get started.
And hopefully, Christina likes it.
We had a heck of a time trying to find, uh... these...
bathtubs.
-Bathtub. -[Misty] So... What do you think?
You like it?
Phew!
[Misty] This is the first load of many.
-You ready? -I am.
We had a heck of a time trying to find these...
Bathtubs.
-[laughs] Bathtubs. -[Misty] So... bathtubs.
It's no easy task to garden in a swamp.
We're going to use a bunch of bathtubs
that we've sourced from junkyards all over Florida.
Tie 'em together, and we'll have ready-made raised beds.
So the idea with the bathtubs is to create a bathtub garden.
You have a low lying area, that gets a ton of rain to the point of erosion
and putting in anything else that's not meant for water
is going to disintegrate, wash away
and be like a, a total waste of your time.
These things are cast iron.
-Do you think anything is getting through this? -Nope.
I don't think so, either.
-What do you think? -I love it.
-Do you like it? -Yes.
It's way harder than I thought to find bathtubs in Florida
because we need so many.
But I'm gonna take what I can get.
There was even one on the homestead,
and we're gonna start piecing this thing together.
I think me and you definitely are taking this with us.
-You ready? -I'm ready.
Obviously, there's a lot of challenges
when you're trying to garden in a swamp.
One being, what's the material that's going to last in water?
We're introducing these cast iron tubs.
They're 250 pounds apiece.
And we're tying them all together.
These things aren't going anywhere,
and they're meant and designed for water.
It would take a lot of material and time to build a bed this size.
-Okay. -[Misty] The fact that we already have one,
two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten bathtubs...
is amazing.
I absolutely love the bathtub idea.
I think it's very unique. I think it's different.
I think it's something I've never seen anybody try before.
When the Raneys first got here and we're going over,
you know, our plans for the property,
we, of course, wanted some sort of gardening project going.
Uh, what we had in mind is not even close to what they had in mind.
And we just love all their ideas.
Looks good, right?
[Christina] Yes. Never would have thought of this.
[Matt] All right.
Look at all this space.
This is looking really clean.
[narrator] With the pole barn finally cleared out,
Matt, Kat and Isabella get to work building their chicken coop.
Measure from the center of that log to the center of that log.
Okay. Drop the tape down, all the way down.
No.
[all laugh]
These two girls are not used to the construction shorthand at all,
and they're taking everything literally, as can be.
Which means that they're listening.
Now that we know the dimensions,
we've got to start cutting some material,
slapping it up and turning this thing into an actual coop.
Tiptoe.
Check this out.
You want a good digging tool?
You ever played Minecraft?
-[both] Yeah. -[Matt] A hammer.
Teaching these two girls how to use tape measures and speed squares
are just little building blocks that build into greater confidence...
so that they actually have skills...
to help the homestead.
Check this out.
What does this look like?
[Katarina] Fake grass.
This is like a used portable putting green
that we're going to upcycle
and turn into a really awesome nesting bed because...
if it can roll a golf ball easily across it,
than an egg's not gonna have any problem rolling out
into a nice little trough where you can collect the eggs.
Upcycling a putting green...
and using it for a nesting box
where the eggs roll away like a golf ball,
is one of my best ideas I've had yet.
We want a chicken to lay an egg
on this table
and basically, be able to have the egg roll out the back.
And so we need to tilt this entire platform up.
The rollaway nesting box has to be the right angle.
If it's too steep, you're gonna have eggs
rolling out real fast and breaking. And if it's not steep enough,
they're not gonna roll out.
Get the golf ball.
Here we go.
Here's the ultimate test.
Let him rip.
You think eggs are gonna roll out of there real easy?
[Katarina chuckles] That looks awesome.
I think it's good for chickens.
[Marty] All right. So who dug this trench?
Christina and I dug it in a thunderstorm.
-During the storm, soaking wet. -Yeah.
-Soaking wet, thunder and lightning. -Lightning.
-For real. -[chuckles] Yeah.
[Deborah] Christina called me. She was in tears.
The garage was flooding, so Mike and I drove over here.
And he was sweeping it out of the garage,
and Christina and I came out with shovels and started just digging...
towards the pond.
-[Marty] That's a lot of digging. -[Deborah] Yeah.
[Marty] Day one, these homesteaders told me,
"Hey, come to the back of the property.
"Look where all this flooding is coming in."
Well, we have dug a lot of material up...
built up the bank and pretty much fixed that problem.
But in the front of the house, it's flooding, too.
Whoever built this house 40 years ago,
they didn't cut this grade, this earth,
this high ground, down low enough to get this water away, and...
-Right. -...a cool place to take it, would be to that pond.
-[Deborah] Sure. -[Marty] You did it by hand.
-[Deborah] Right. -[Marty] But we have equipment here now.
I could take the excavator and install a French drain.
[narrator] The French drain,
named after American agriculturalist, Henry Flagg French,
typically consists of a dirt trench
filled with a low density material
like gravel, rocks or sand.
The combination allows for a stable ground surface
that carries water through the trench
away from building foundations and other unwanted areas.
[Marty] We'll cut some trenches,
connect them to the very trench
that Christina and her mom dug during the storm,
and try to carry rain away from the house,
get it redirected to the pond,
alleviate any more flooding on the front.
Hopefully, we leave these homesteaders high and dry,
and that's a good thing.
-[narrator] On the Haas' central Florida homestead... - [reverse alarm beeping]
[Marty] You got it.
...Marty gets a delivery that will play a big role in flood proofing.
[Marty] So there's no way that I'm ever gonna dig a trench
or a French drain until I find out what I'm gonna put in that ditch.
Some kind of gravel, some kind of sand,
something that will collect that water
and allow that water to move through it.
And in this case, from the house to the pond.
So what do you call this product?
-They actually call it cochi-- -Cochitos.
-Cochito. So it's sand... -Yeah.
-...and seashells. -Sand and seashells.
-Yeah. Mostly. Yeah.
[Marty] And this is a road base, right?
-Yeah. -So anything that's left over,
we can broadcast out here and make a nice driveway with it.
-Yes, exactly. Yeah. -Okay.
-And walk it in with the excavator. -Yeah.
In Florida, the custom thing to put in that drain is...
It's crazy.
It's sand, it's crushed up seashells.
It's amazing, and we're this far away
from solving the flooding
on the front side of this homestead.
So the next step,
I think we're going to try to design an electric fence
to keep alligators away from the homestead.
Here we go.
Okay! We've got a place for the chickens to sleep.
We've got a place for the chickens to lay eggs,
and we've even made the chores
to keep these chickens fed and watered
and collecting the eggs a lot easier.
Let's go around [imitates clucking] ba-ba-ba-back...
and check out our collecting tray.
Rollaway nesting boxes are very useful because they prevent the chickens
from getting broody sitting on too many eggs,
because as soon as they lay that egg, the chicken gets up
and the egg rolls away and collects into a nice little trough outside.
So... this is the tray.
Open it up.
How does it look?
[chuckles] It looks cool.
Now that we have a collection tray for our roll out nesting box,
we're gonna test this with some real eggs
and see if we can get a hole in one.
All right, girls. You ready for this?
-[both] Yeah. -[Matt] Okay.
Three, two, one.
It didn't break! That's awesome!
-[Isabella] Oh, my goodness. -[Matt laughs]
[Matt clucks]
[Katarina] The way that we built the chicken coop,
I do think our chores will be much easier.
We just have to go around the back and open up the lid.
All right. How did that go?
No broken eggs.
That's really cool.
It's hard work to homestead, but it can also be pretty fun.
And your chickens could be laying eggs,
but not even know that they're playing mini golf.
[Marty] Hey, Mike, Deb, come over here for a second.
[narrator] With the storm and flood prevention complete,
Marty has a uniquely Floridian task for Mike and Deb
that will test their ability to help this homestead
long after the Raneys leave.
What do retired people and oranges have in common?
They thrive in the sun.
That said, once upon a time on Christina's property,
there were a lot of orange trees thriving in the sun.
I want to bring that back to this family.
This is Mike Hale and his sidekick Alexis.
We're all gonna learn something, I'm sure.
[Hale] Okay, lesson number one,
try to keep the dirt as close to the hole as possible
-because we got to move it back when we're done. -Right.
Michael Hale, he's a third-generation orange farmer right here in Florida.
[Hale] When it comes to the plant, you don't want to go too deep.
This is the bud union.
This needs to be up as high as possible off the ground.
[Marty] He came to this location. He's a neighbor.
Donated his time and a few trees.
He wants to help these people.
And this is an opportunity to bring in another food source.
[Mike] That's ten foot.
We're aiming at 12 feet with the tree,
which should give any range of 25 feet on each side.
[Marty] 25 feet?
-[Mike] Yep, but... -No way.
Grapefruit like this one can grow up to be, like, 100 feet tall.
[Deb] We're really learning and absorbing so much.
These trees are gonna be a great contribution to the homestead,
from orange juice to key lime pies. [laughs]
How often do you water them?
[Hale] When you get them established, couple times a month, maybe.
Right, so during the rainy season, we don't have to do much?
[Hale] You don't have to water them at all. Yeah.
[Deborah] And that makes fruit sweeter when it's watered a lot, or,
-or juicier? That's what I've always heard. -Oh, actually opposite.
-Really? -Yeah, it'll water the fruit down,
the more water you put on them.
Meaning, the more the tree struggles, the more everything's gonna taste good.
You don't want it to die, obviously. But, like, if you stress a tree,
then it's more likely to reproduce with a lot of fruit
-because it thinks it's gonna die. -Nice.
We didn't know that.
[Marty] What was really cool is
getting all of that third-generational Florida farmer intel.
And now, I want to put Deb and Mike to the test.
How do you guys feel about planting your own orange trees?
-Great. -Can you handle it?
[Mike] I can handle it.
-Here? -Yep.
[Mike] All right. So, this is 12 feet.
[Deborah] Means a lot to us that Marty sees this family trying
and that we're really learning and
absorbing what everybody here is telling us.
We've had so many people come and offer us knowledge
so that moving forward, we can have resources.
Looks amazing. You're done.
We're done.
[Marty] I've been watching this family.
They're hard workers.
Christina found this property.
Her parents immediately became invested in fixing the problems.
-You guys happy? -[Deborah] We are.
[Marty] And they tell you of how important family is,
and that no family is ever left behind.
Now, a watched pot never boils.
-[laughs] -Right.
And a freshly planted orange tree,
might take a couple of years before it bears an orange.
-Let's go. -All right.
Let's try and center this by just eyeballing it
-because we have a little bit of a live edge. -[Christina] Okay.
[narrator] Across the homestead,
Misty and Christina put the finishing touches on the bathtub garden beds.
-So, I have a question. -[Christina] Yes?
[Misty] How is your dad feeling today? Is he doing good?
-He seems really happy. -Oh, yeah. He is.
[Misty] I'm glad to have your dad around.
He seems like a really special guy.
I grew up watching my father make repairs to the home and
build decks, and fix things out in the garage.
My father helps with painting and plumbing
and anything that I need help with.
To be able to have that help is wonderful and
we've made a pretty good team with this.
-He's always over here trying to help me and... -[Misty] Yeah.
...you can tell it's not easy for him.
He's got rheumatoid arthritis, so his hand
will bother him sometimes.
Um, and they think he might have early-onset Alzheimer's, too, so...
Oh, no.
Have you seen anything like that?
Um, we've noticed some changes in him, in his behavior.
That's not good.
It's not good, but like I said, I'm glad I'm...
I'm close to home. I'm here.
You know, him being right down the road is just...
[chuckles] wonderful.
[Misty] I really like where Christina is at with her family first.
Christina's parents have both been a huge help to her, specifically Mike,
but that's gonna change due to Mike's recent health concerns.
That knowledge is really helpful for future plans I want to do here, as well.
For me, the takeaway is this garden has to be
doable, workable for her.
Okay, we're just gonna get this flat.
I think this looks...
beautiful.
[Misty] This is a single mom that's made a lot of sacrifices.
There was a moment there where she didn't get to, like, live her dreams.
And I'm so excited just for her journey to start back up.
Heck, yeah.
[Marty] Hello, family.
[narrator] With daylight fading,
and Marty all finished with homestead flood protection,
the Raneys gather at the far side of the pond to discuss next steps.
Christina obviously moved back home to be with her family, to be with Mike.
He's been remodeling the house, and he does a bulk of the...
the bulk of the work around here.
But that could change pretty quickly.
There's some health concerns,
and they're thinking it's early signs of Alzheimer's.
-[Marty] Who? -Mike.
So, there's some pretty heavy stuff.
I think for this family, we need to keep in mind
doing something that Christina could do on her own.
It has to be manageable for her and the girls.
Very good intel.
I've been working with Katarina and Isabella
and showing them Construction 101.
We've turned half of that pole barn into an actual barn,
really trying to make sure that I can teach these girls
enough skills,
because this homestead needs a lot of help.
[Marty] I spent the last few days
focused only on flood control and gator protection.
But now I think we should switch gears,
and build something on this property that we can't build on any other homesteads.
We came here to help this family, we came here to help feed this family,
and it's just staring us in the face every day.
I want to go out here, survey the pond,
see how deep it is, get all the data I can because we're looking at
a legitimate protein food source.
On that note,
there's another way,
to feed this family with fish,
and it has nothing to do with the pond yet.
It's very common down here in Florida to raise fish
by the thousands,
right in your garage, or right in your...
pole barn.
[Misty] Mmm-hmm.
[narrator] Raising fish in a fish farm, also known as aquaculture,
is a practice dedicated to the breeding,
rearing, and harvesting of fish primarily for food.
Fish farms can operate in various aquatic settings,
including tanks and enclosures with natural water bodies
like ponds, lakes, or coastal areas.
It provides a controlled environment for fish growth,
where they can be fed, protected, and easily harvested.
I'm not saying we could feed the world,
but they will definitely have more fish than they can eat,
fulfilling that dream, that goal,
to feed their neighbors,
-their friends, their community. -Mmm-hmm.
So, I think that if you're interested in that, we'll pursue it.
Yeah, we've created a garden for her and her family,
but how do we take it to the next level?
Florida has the climate to do something like that.
The problem is, can we do it in a couple of days?
Because that's all we have left.
Making a change this late in the game...
These tanks need to be moved.
...is really risky,
and I'm just hoping we can finish on time.
[Marty] So, the question is, is this water deep enough to sustain fish?
-[water splashing] -[Marty] Oh.
Something just surfaced right there.
[Misty] All right. Super pumped.
[narrator] It's day five on the Haas homestead.
Misty and Christina have framed their bathtub garden beds
with bug-resistant cypress, filling them to the brim,
and this ingenious swamp-proof garden,
will soon be ready for plants.
I got a little worried with the bathtub garden because
these bathtubs are ugly.
Thank goodness for all this cypress.
Not only does it look amazing, but it's bug resistant,
and the bathtubs are getting us out of the swamp.
We're gonna throw some soil and we're almost ready to plant.
The yard looks completely different today than it has.
All the work that's going on,
the bathtubs going in,
you can really start seeing the whole property transform.
[Misty] I love this. So, when you combine the cypress
with the cast iron bathtubs,
these are gonna last a really long time.
[narrator] Five days ago, the Haas homestead was more swamp
than productive garden or growing space.
Now, with the introduction of several raised bathtub garden beds,
Christina and her family will be able to grow a wide variety of produce
without fear of flood or alligator assault.
So, I have an idea I want to run by you. Right?
So, what is the nonprofit in Florida?
We're trying to help people with food security
as well as educate them on how to be self-sufficient.
Okay, and I love that idea.
So, obviously, we've started with our garden,
but I think we should also be farming fish.
When you combine the two,
it is starting to become a destination
place for the nonprofit.
And when it comes to just being you and the girls,
I want it to be this realistic thing.
I'm thinking something small-scale that you grow down the road,
hopefully with your community and your nonprofit.
What do you think?
I love it.
I never imagined we would be fish farming here.
We never thought of it as part of the nonprofit and things we were doing.
So, the fish are a great source of food,
and I'm really excited to get started.
[narrator] A fish farm consists of three crucial elements,
the tank, the filter, and the pump, which when combined,
create a fully enclosed self-sustaining system
The tank houses the fish and their spawn,
while the pump cycles water through the filter,
capturing impurities, keeping the fish healthy.
Once the pond is properly conditioned,
the pole barn farm will expand operation
by moving fish into cages in the homestead's main reservoir
maximizing their output.
To create a system that's scalable for Christina
where she can grow fish is key.
She can start them in the tanks and then move them to the pond
once my dad cleans it out.
We've got our work cut out for us with just a few days left.
We could use a little help.
Come on in.
Christina reached out to the community, and here they are.
Hello.
We're really happy to see you because we need help.
-Can you help? -[all] Yeah.
For me, that's really exciting, because we have a ton to do.
But for Christina, this is what her nonprofit is all about.
We have so much work to do, and we can't do it on our own.
-So, we welcome all the help we can get at this point. -Oh, yeah.
And I feel like we're gonna kind of divide up.
Just jump in there.
So, I'll take a few of you right now,
and then maybe the rest can find Matt and my dad
and just say, "Hey, what do you need from me," and just help them.
-You ready? -[woman] Yes.
Okay, let's go.
We only have a few days left.
we're starting a whole new project in something we've never even done before.
So, thanks to the amazing community in Florida,
we're gonna get a ton of work done and this is what homesteading is all about.
It's about sharing and experiences that you can have with your community members.
And seeing it in real time is really exciting.
Okay.
So, let me introduce you...
to Frank.
So, he's gonna help us put this system together.
We ended up reaching out
for someone to come mill all these cypress trees.
Come to find out, that same person is actually,
like, an aquaponics master.
I need to fast-track this thing and
Frank it is.
-We're gonna just follow his lead. -[woman] Okay.
[Misty] You have this system at your house?
-Basically, you have a tank of water. -[Christina] Okay.
You have...
a number of milk crates full of these lava rocks, which is the magic.
That's what's gonna do the biological filtration of the water and keep
-the urines and the waste and everything in check. -[Christina] Okay.
So, we're ready to get to work.
What is the first thing?
-Find the location for the two tanks. -[Misty] Okay.
I'm so glad the Raneys were able to come out here.
Yeah, there you go back and forth, right there, hold.
We were really struggling before they got here and,
you know, now we're even further ahead than we even ever imagined we would be.
[Misty] We're gonna try and get these tanks level, but how exciting is this?
We're starting our fish farm.
What do you think, Christina?
It's a huge head start for us.
-Yeah. -Literally a dream come true.
-[Misty] Really? -It really is.
I wouldn't have been able to do this without you guys, ever.
Never would have been able to do this.
[Misty] Aw!
So, I appreciate it and...
I, I really love it.
[Misty] Aw!
I do. I am liking it.
This is really exciting.
Christina's sacrificed a lot to be here in Florida
but I want to show her that she can have what she had in Hawaii,
maybe even more.
We're ready for rocks.
[Frank] That's it.
[Misty] Yes, water.
[birds screeching]
[Marty] We're gonna test the waters, as it were.
[narrator] In the middle of the Haas family pond...
[Marty] It should be real deep here.
...Marty investigates to see if it can become healthy enough
to accommodate a future scaled-up fish farm.
[Marty] On day one,
I see a beautiful homestead with a really cool pond,
but it's covered with a heavy skim of algae.
Millions of ponds have algae in them,
but when you get to the point where the algae is too heavy,
tipping the scales,
it can actually kill the pond.
How deep is it?
No idea.
So, I'm doing my own mapping.
[narrator] In order for a pond or other natural body of water to sustain life,
it must contain adequate oxygen levels,
controlled nutrient levels,
and biodiversity.
In the case of a pond that is out of balance,
bacteria consumes oxygen to break down organic waste,
such as dead plant life and algae.
The process leaves less oxygen to sustain life,
leading to a cycle of death and decomposition.
[Marty] Our goal is to help this family be self-sufficient.
And when it comes to looking at that pond for a food source,
I want to make sure that pond is deep enough for fish.
I believe that a average depth of five, six, seven feet is deep enough,
but what the pond doesn't have is a clean surface.
This thing is so full of algae.
Is it possible to get rid of it?
Just eyeball it,
go over on this side, just like that one over here.
Then do the same thing with this one.
[narrator] Over at the pole barn,
Matt continues teaching the girls homesteading skills,
as they turn their attention from the chickens to the goats.
[Matt] The homesteaders want goats,
not just to raise as pets,
but so that they can get milk every day.
That requires a milking station.
Getting the goat up off the ground
makes it so that you can sit at a comfortable height
and do all that work day in and day out.
[drilling]
[saw whirring]
So, we finished a nice little table, or a platform,
for our goat milking station.
Goats have a tendency to be looked at as unruly and hard to deal with.
And that's where this stanchion part
comes into play.
Open up, put the bucket in,
drop some... drop some imaginary feed.
Now, I'm a goat.
I'm, like, I want to get that feed.
I'm gonna go in there.
And then that's when you... [imitates chopping]
Put this on, put the rope on.
Like so...
And they're not gonna be able to get out.
And the goat is gonna be, like, I get to have some goat feed.
None of the other goats get to have goat feed.
I'm special.
I'm up on my little platform.
Building the goat milking station with Matt was awesome.
I think the concept is really cool.
This is just another example
of how useful upcycling is.
We upcycled materials,
built a very cheap, but insanely
useful goat milking station.
But now, you've used a lot more tools,
you've gained a lot more skills.
Do you understand how to build it enough to where you can be,
like, "Oh, yeah, I get it. I could do that"?
Yeah, definitely.
Let's go.
[Misty] How's it going, Frank?
[Frank] Hey, good morning, Misty.
[Misty] Whoo, good morning!
[narrator] As the sun rises on the second-to-last day of the rescue,
Misty has a change that will dramatically upgrade the fish farm.
[Misty] I'm so happy to have you back.
[narrator] At the risk of failing to finish before she must leave.
So, I know we're bringing tilapia here. We got our pumps,
we have some filtration, lava rocks.
I would like to not only farm fish, but also farm veggies,
all in one aquaponics system.
So, we're taking it to the next step.
-You can literally have your entire dinner plate... -Yes.
-...comes from your backyard.
[narrator] The aquaponic farming method combines
the act of raising fish, aquaculture,
with the growing of plants in water, hydroponics.
In this closed-loop system,
the fish waste provides nutrients for the plants,
and the plants help filter and purify the water for the fish.
Because we're changing...
ideas a little bit,
-welcome to the homestead, things change by the hour. -Mmm-hmm.
I think these tanks need to be moved,
and I think that these plants are gonna need some sun.
-Yes. -Okay.
-I'm so happy you're here. Okay, so I guess we're moving. -Good.
-We're moving. -Let's do it.
Do it.
[Misty] Thank goodness for Frank.
He's a wealth of information.
He knows everything there is to know about aquaponics.
He has a very similar system in his front yard.
And with just days left, somebody like Frank
is the most valuable thing on this homestead.
[water splashing]
Right now, we're on the north side of the barn.
We need to move to the south side, which is the sun,
and we'll be farming not only fish, but also vegetables,
and vegetables need sun, so these tanks got to move.
Okay, now you can see it coming together.
[man] Yeah. Yeah.
[Misty] What I really love about this part of Florida,
it's very community based.
We're trying to feed Christina and her family, obviously.
But she is a part of something bigger.
The nonprofit and what Christina has done in the past
is all community-based, it's community-reliant.
Right there, right?
Seeing it all come together in real time right now
is really, really special.
So, for Christina to have this amazing aquaponic system
is actually the perfect solution.
But making a change this late in the game on any build
is really risky
and I'm just hoping we can finish on time.
-Good? -We got one.
[banjo music playing]
-[Matt] You guys using these tires for anything? -[Katarina] Nope.
I have a really good idea
that I know the goats are gonna love.
[narrator] At the back of the pole barn,
Matt shows Isabella and Kat an inventive way
to create enrichment for their future livestock.
What do you know about goats?
Not much. We've never had goats in the past.
Well, guess what?
Goats are very playful.
They love to climb.
And a big part of keeping livestock happy
is having something fun for them to do
that they like to do in their pen.
I have an amazing idea for these tires that's gonna be fun
and it's gonna be a way to upcycle them
and turn them into something the goats are really gonna use.
-You into it? -Yeah.
-[Matt] Okay, follow me.
As soon as I looked at that pile of tires, the wheels started turning.
A lot of livestock benefit from something that's called enrichment.
Makes them happier and more productive.
And we're gonna upcycle those tires
into something that's gonna be really fun for the goats.
Who's ready to have a tire race?
-[Katarina] What? -What?
[Matt] So here we go.
Okay. On your marks.
I'm on uneven grounds. This isn't fair.
-Get set! -[Katarina sighs]
-Go! -[upbeat banjo music playing]
[Matt laughing] Why am I so far behind?
-[Isabella panting, laughing] -[Matt laughing]
Oh, no. Oh, no!
Your sister's gone too far.
Argh!
[panting] What do I get? What do I win?
Put your hand up like this,
turn it like this,
reach around...
-and start patting yourself on the back. [laughs] -No, no!
[Matt] All right, let's put 'em together, like flat...
We're gonna take all these tires,
stack 'em up like a pyramid, fill 'em with sand
and they're gonna have an awesome little mountain to play on
that they're gonna love a ton.
Okay. That's how we'll do it.
I'm gonna hop in that thing,
get some dirt
-and fill this row of tires. -[Katarina] All right.
[excavator whirs]
Teaching Katarina and Isabella about upcycling is easy
because all you have to do is use your imagination.
These girls are still young, they're in middle school.
They got all kinds of imagination
and I'm showing 'em the way.
Don't fall.
It's like quicksand.
You want it to squish and then flatten out,
so it goes in those wheel wells.
Try to fill those tires.
-I think we can go a little bit higher. -All right.
Filling those tires with sand really did the trick.
Do you like it?
-Yes. -It looks like a cake.
We both did enjoy working with Matt a lot.
He made working a lot of fun.
I didn't think I'd ever be saying that,
but here I am.
Boom. All of our powers combined.
Thanks for your help.
[pleasant music playing]
[Marty] Let's talk about a few things.
[narrator] It's the Raneys' final day
on the Haas homestead in central Florida.
Have you guys ever thought about cleaning this pond up?
A lot. [laughs]
-[Marty] You have? -Oh, yeah.
[narrator] And with time running out,
Marty presents the family with an innovative idea
to breathe new life into their pond
that could maximize output for their eventual fish farm.
[Marty] It's windy, but it gives me a nice visual
-of what the pond could look like, right? -Yeah.
My dad gave me some herbicide spray that,
you know, it doesn't harm the fish.
Did it work?
It cleared up a small, small area, but not...
-And then it just kind of comes right back. -[Deborah] Came right back.
[Marty] Well, there's a lot of ponds in Florida.
But not everyone is getting full use out of their pond.
-[Christina] Right. -So...
We found a couple of guys that actually clean ponds for a living
and they're pulling in right now.
-Okay. [laughs] -Oh, wow!
Thanks for coming.
-Bryan and... -Nice to meet you.
-Paul. -[Marty] Paul.
This is the family.
So, tell us what you can do.
[Bryan] So, I can install a machine that makes ultra-fine bubbles.
That will energize bacteria in the water,
so the bacteria will eat the muck.
Everything that's alive needs oxygen to live.
If you have organic waste in there,
like when the grass clippings and stuff
go like into the water,
it takes oxygen to decompose that.
The fish need that oxygen
and then, if the fish don't have oxygen,
then they die
and then you have to use more oxygen to decompose them.
So once it starts going bad,
-it just continues to go bad. -Right.
[Bryan] Nothing is gonna be healthy, nothing's gonna live.
So, we put bubbles in there and we'll get it all fixed.
And then we'll be able to pull our equipment out
and just do regular maintenance in it.
Awesome.
So, the pond has never had an aeration system
or probably never been cleaned before
or skimmed.
-Yep. -So, does your system combat this?
Yes, because our bubbles are smaller, there's more surface area.
So, it's more efficient and more effective.
-[Christina] Nice. -[Matt] That's cool.
[Paul] Fish will love this.
The fish thrive with a higher increase in oxygen.
So, they'll feed longer, they'll grow bigger
and it's completely safe.
You're confident?
-[Bryan] Yes. -[Paul] Totally confident.
[Marty] Is it cool?
-Very cool. [laughs] -[Mike] Yeah.
-[Marty] On that note, let's get started. -Okay.
-Thank you very much. -Get to work! Get to work! That's cool.
Come on, little darlings.
[captivating music playing]
All right. Today is a big day.
These two sisters, Isabella and Katarina,
have worked a ton.
They've helped me out immensely
and these two girls are finally gonna see the fruits of their labor.
Good.
[Katarina] Aw. They're so tiny.
Wait, how many coats are we dropping off right now?
-I think there's eight. -Eight?
[Katarina] Having the goats arrive today, it's pretty awesome.
Goats are really cute.
[Matt] Here's yours.
[Isabella] It was fun holding the goats.
Look at them.
[Katarina] Aw, aren't they cute?
Especially the baby ones. I like the baby goats.
-[goat bleats] -[Matt] Bring 'em all the way in.
-Just set it down. -[goats bleating]
[Matt] Okay. Come on.
[bleating]
[Matt] Okay. Goat mountain, here we go.
Seeing the goats get up onto the tires
onto the goat mountain and playing up there
is really what this is all about.
If you had to name one of these goats right now,
which one would you pick and what would you name it?
Um, the, um, black baby goat there,
-I would name it Midnight. -[Matt] Nice.
I thought you were gonna pick out the brown one
that has the beard and you were gonna name it Matt.
[both chuckle]
Yeah, we have chickens, too.
All right, let's get some chickens.
-[upbeat music playing] -[Katarina] Chickens coming through.
[Matt] Okey dokey. All right, get it inside.
[chirping]
[Matt] Okay, so...
I'd just open it and then you come out.
As soon as we got the livestock inside the barn,
we had some chores to do.
Time to feed these chickens.
[clucking]
You wanna dump that whole thing right in that trough.
I wanna make the chores easy.
Collect the eggs from the outside.
Feed the chickens from the outside of the coop.
And just make those chores that these girls are gonna be doing day in and day out
that much more manageable.
[chirping]
[Katarina] Oh, no. The goats.
[Isabella] No!
-[laughing] -[Katarina] Get the goat.
-Get the goat! -[Matt] We're gonna make a cover for that.
This is the first thing we started building
and I think this is one of the finest chicken coops
that I've ever built on any homestead.
Pretty awesome.
What was your favorite part about building this chicken coop?
Building the nesting box.
I like the idea of the eggs rolling down
and pretty special because we helped build it.
These chickens could lay an egg every day,
giving you amazing protein that's healthy
and It's gonna be food coming right from your own homestead
for you and for anybody that you wanna help feed themselves in the future.
[narrator] Seven days ago,
the Haas family had no livestock,
no protein source on the homestead
and a large pole barn with untapped potential.
Now, they have a brand new chicken coop,
goat pen and milking table,
along with the knowledge to raise their livestock
and maintain a fruitful homestead.
Does it feel different having animals in here?
-Definitely. -This is awesome.
[clucking]
[Marty] We gotta get cracking. Let's go.
We got a fence to put in.
[chainsaw revving]
[narrator] At the edge of the newly built berm,
with time running out on the homestead,
Marty uses some Alaskan ingenuity
to keep Florida's predators at bay.
[Marty grunts] I got the heavy end.
Go.
Owen, reach over there, please.
Okay, so,
remember that first day we cut all that cypress?
We milled the big part of it,
we saved the tops all the way down to that big.
Why? It's all valuable.
You can drive that in the ground, have a great fencepost.
So, nothing was wasted.
Let's go. Quick, quick, quick.
Watch yourself.
Done. Next.
Twenty feet. Go. Go.
Put it in there. Go.
Okay. Next.
Got it?
Next.
Good job.
Yep.
Let's go.
Okay. That'll work.
Thank you.
You see how easy they are to drive in the ground, right?
Doesn't take all day to do a day's work.
All right, next. A few more, a few more. Whoo!
[pleasant music playing]
Hey, Misty?
Aren't you supposed to be in the excavator?
I saw you relaxing and I thought, "Hey, why not?"
[sighs in relief]
Wow, this is incredible.
We might be onto something.
This is the most comfortable I've ever been in my life and I'm not kidding.
I'm gonna get one of these for my yard.
I'm gonna get one of these for my living room.
[both laughing]
[Misty] Hey, Clint. Take a load off.
-Hey. -[Misty] Oh.
[all laughing]
Clint!
What you guys don't realize is that mine's full of water
and I have no pants on.
[Misty] La-la-la-la la-la-la-la-la.
[country music playing]
[Marty] We can start by putting in our insulators.
[narrator] On the Haas homestead in central Florida...
Working our way down the fence line.
...Marty adds one more line of protection
between the homestead and the swamp's alligators.
[Marty] Here's the thing about fences.
When you build one,
you're either keeping something in
or you're keeping something out.
What am I keeping out?
I'll give you a couple of clues.
Boots and purses.
So, we're building an electric fence for gators.
And if you're a gator
and 70% of your body is in that water,
and your nose or face or head hits an electric fence,
I mean, you're grounded
and you're gonna get the shock of your life.
See you later...
alligator.
[upbeat music playing]
[Misty] We'll plant the plants right into the lava rocks.
The roots will reach down and grab the water they need.
[Matt] Put a classy putt handle.
[whirring]
This is the final day on the homestead
and we have a lot of stuff to do.
-[Frank] There you go. You ready for fish? -[Misty] We're ready.
Whoa, here they go.
So, I'm assuming I gotta make it over to the water.
-[Frank] Yes. -[Misty] Okay.
[Frank] Farthest tank back.
-[Misty] Oh, my gosh, Christina. -[Christina laughs]
[Misty] Look at 'em.
The stakes have been high this week
because we're trying to feed Christina and her family, obviously.
But she is a part of something bigger.
And for me, that is what homesteading is all about.
Let's go grab the big one.
It's the giving and the taking from your neighbors
um, and just showing up for people in need.
Last one.
[guitar music playing]
-Dinner in the backyard. -Oh!
You have a full plate of food between the fish
and the veggies. It's all here.
[Christina] Awesome.
[Misty] This aquaponics system is this never-ending loop,
this never-ending cycle
that's just mimicking what you see in nature.
You're feeding the fish, the fish are feeding your plants,
the fertilized water and it just continues.
What I love about it is it's simple and it's scalable
and it's manageable for you and the girls.
And I think for the nonprofit, for people to see how simple this could be
with whatever they have lying around
-is really important. -Exactly.
[Misty] When we first got here, like, to hear
that she put everything on pause for her family,
including her dad,
that's huge.
But now, guess what? We pushed play.
She's got dinner in her backyard.
She's raising fish, plants.
The technique and the garden setup
are very manageable for her
and they're scalable.
[narrator] A week ago, the Haas homestead was home
to more alligators than plants or produce.
Now, with the introduction of an aquaponic fish farm ripe for expansion,
the family can farm both a sustainable protein source
and a wide variety of produce for themselves and community members in need.
This is very manageable, it's very simple.
We can use this to show people and educate them
and then we can always expand and grow from here.
We certainly are gonna thrive with everything the way it's set up.
This is more than we had ever dreamed of.
With the fish, even, that's a big step up for us,
not only as homesteaders, but as a nonprofit.
We're really gonna be able to help people with all this stuff.
I'm very happy. I am very, very happy.
Any regrets in calling us here?
-Not one. Not a single one. -[both laughing]
[Marty] I don't know what real estate's worth in Florida,
but I wanna believe we gained you a little real estate.
Yes, definitely.
Well, and just standing here, you can see
that the water's gonna trail off and go right back to the pond.
It's expanded all of this,
so it's gotten all the predators
far enough away from the house so that they can see 'em coming.
Before, none of this was clear all the way up to the watershed.
That said, let's talk about that.
I really love this pond.
This is kind of state of the art,
not your average, run-of-the-mill aerator.
I think I can see a difference already.
[Marty] If you take what's happening in that barn serious...
[Mike] Mmm-hmm.
...this could be a tilapia farm.
-[Deborah] Yes. -Here.
-Yeah. A lot bigger scale. [laughs] -[Deborah] Mmm-hmm.
[Marty] A lot bigger scale, only time will tell,
-but it's there for the taking. -Right.
We're really excited about the pond.
The fact that aeration system is cleaning the pond
and getting it to where we can have fish in there
and to where there's not so much cover for alligators to hide
and that type of thing is really important.
We're super happy about that.
[narrator] Seven days ago,
the Haas homestead was dominated by swamps,
leaving them prone to flooding
and allowing unwanted predators on the property,
while their pond was a dead zone.
Today, the pond has new life breathed into it
and will soon be ready to farm fish.
Large areas of swamp have been replaced with high-standing dry land,
which increases the homestead real estate
and acts as a buffer against flooding,
while an electric fence built with upcycled cypress trees
will keep alligators off the homestead, where they belong.
[Marty] Look at that. What's that?
[Deborah] That's a snowy egret?
-[Marty] Hey. -Yeah?
That's a good sign.
-Yeah. -He's looking for a meal.
[all laughing]
[Marty] Well...
All good things must come to an end.
Look behind you. What do you see there?
-[Deborah laughing] A gator. -[Christina] A big old gator.
That little piece of, uh, lawn art isn't done.
Stay right there.
[all laughing]
[Katarina] Oh, my gosh.
-[Matt] Wow. -[Misty] Dad.
[Katarina] That's awesome.
-Okay, come on over here family. What's it say? -Oh, my gosh.
[Christina and Deborah] See ya later, alligator.
-Exactly. -[all laughing]
-[Christina] Love it. -All right.
Let's head for the truck.
This week has been life changing for our family
and it's because of your family.
Everything that you have done has been such a blessing
and such a transformation from what we had
and what we were doing, because we didn't think we could do it. So...
-And now? -[Deborah] Now we can do it.
-[laughing] -Yeah, absolutely can do it.
-Are you happy? -[Christina] I am very happy.
There's so much more than we ever expected
and it's really gonna help so many people.
[Mike] It's been great. I've learned a lot.
We reclaimed so much land that we didn't and couldn't use.
I feel safer for them now that you pushed that back.
We can see anything coming. I don't have to worry so much about them.
There's no way I could have done this.
[laughs]
My parents are extremely excited.
They know how upsetting it's been that we haven't been able to do anything,
uh, because of certain circumstances.
And now that they see how much easier this is gonna be for me.
It's just wonderful.
It's kind of unique to find three generations
all working hand in hand.
You're very blessed, Christina.
So, thank you very much.
I feel like we gained another family.
-[laughs] -Aw!
Can I thank you now?
-Yes, you can. -[both laugh]
[Matt] Group hug? Thank you, girls, for all the help.
[Katarina and Isabella] Mmm.
[Marty] It's not every day you meet someone that says,
"My mission is to help other people."
We focused on helping Christina help herself first,
but be successful enough to help others.
I think we got to that place.
Thanks to all of the Floridians that came to our support.
[Misty] Bye.
-[honking] -[Christina laughs] Thank you.
[upbeat country music playing]
[Christina] Here are the raised garden beds.
We got a bunch of vegetables out of them.
Katarina working out here.
Electric fence is working great.
We haven't lost any animals.
The goats are doing great.
Two of our goats had kids,
so, we have four new baby goats.
And my little nephew is holding our newest baby goat.
-Chickens just started laying eggs... - [clucking]
...a couple weeks ago,
so we get fresh eggs every day.
We actually got our aquaculture license.
We also added ducks, geese, turkeys.
She's been filled with a renewed sense of energy and hope
and being able to do it and accomplish it by herself
-as a single mom, without relying on us. - [bleating]
[Deborah] And she is doing amazing.
-[crickets chirping] -[frogs croaking]