♪ ♪
CHEVIE: I heard a little action last night.
And I got to make sure that this whole area's safe
for my kids to be out in.
I can see that there's, uh, tracks
all over the side of my house,
paw prints are all over here.
That's a black bear, for sure.
For as big as they are, they're super, super quiet.
The dog didn't bark.
This whole time I'm sleeping.
What they do is they come up, kind of going like this,
seeing where they can push,
get entrance into here.
My bed's right on the other side of this.
Right on the other side of this is where Sonta and I sleep,
and the baby,
and you know that that black bear
could smell us from right here.
He's trying to get in this house.
Comes around the corner here...
He walked up here, sniffing around,
he had his back feet right here.
I've had this house built for four years
and never had really any issues with bears.
This is what makes me the most nervous right here.
His paws are right here.
He's looking in here like this.
He's looking right at my kids.
SONTA: Okay, guys, Dad's outside,
and I'm not sure,
but the animal's probably gonna be back sometime,
so we just want to be safe right now.
So no going outside without a grownup,
and, um, you know, be looking out the windows
in case it comes back.
Keep your eyes peeled, okay?
CHEVIE: Once they start getting curious,
he'll keep pushing on it,
he'll start trying to figure out a way to get in there.
SONTA: See how it put its hands on the window there?
They're really smart.
They could figure out how to push that down.
So, keep it locked.
CHEVIE: Once one of these bears
gets associated with a house with food,
they want to come back.
SONTA: From what I can tell, it's a pretty good size.
It's not worth messing around with.
CHEVIE: It's all gonna be about watching now,
looking and being prepared,
'cause it is gonna show back up here.
It's just when and where.
Right now, my house isn't safe.
(dog barking)
(revving)
KALEB: Here in Alaska,
problems happen to even the best of us.
And the solution is to be a positive problem solver
and not a negative naysayer.
Negativity gets you nowhere in this wilderness.
Boy, this isn't really very flat right here.
This probably isn't a very good spot.
Ah, this looks decent.
Nice little clearing in the woods.
Got a little bit to do.
Got to pull stumps like this out.
But this ought to be a good spot for a tent platform.
Get rid of all this junk.
I'm out at my Nizina River camp.
Oof!
There's always the thought in the back of the mind
that the snow could start to melt out underneath the tent.
And that's a serious hazard,
because the wood stove can tip over in the middle of the night
and burn me.
It's not safe at all.
I'll have the back of the tent back here.
I'll dig down through the moss till I get to good gravel,
and that's what I'll set my posts in.
So I'll probably have two posts somewhere back here...
have two more somewhere in here,
then I'll bump in for my awning,
and I'll have four more posts kind of in this area.
I think the tent's gonna be about right here.
It's probably about, I don't know,
200 or 300 board feet of lumber.
So I need to get started.
(chainsaw starts)
Wood's not gonna mill itself.
The ground was constantly shifting out
from underneath my tent out here last winter
and melting.
And then it compresses really easily.
This is the foundation of my tent platform.
The conditions just were not ideal,
and I don't want to deal with this next winter.
These four six-by-sixes,
they're gonna sit on posts,
then I'll have floor joists
that run perpendicular all the way across here.
So, I'll just start digging down through the moss.
All the roots in here make this difficult.
There we go.
And start preparing my foundation
for this tent platform.
This is my last hole...
(grunts)
...and now I can start cutting all my posts.
SAMANTHA: Up here, having chickens is super essential,
because between the egg production
and the meat production,
they are, like, just vital.
We got a new one, guys.
You want to come see it?
NATHAN: Ooh, look, kids.
SAMANTHA: It's another blondie.
(chirping)
Welcome to the world. Here, it's a little gooey.
AUTUMN: Is it blind?
SAMANTHA: No, I don't think so.
They have to kind of get acclimated
to the world around them.
They have to learn how to stand up and move,
and so we don't want to just, like,
jump in and feed it too fast.
It'll figure it out.
So, our plan is to take care of things with our chickens,
just to get things just fixed up
for the summer season that's coming.
We'll probably have to build a little birdy box.
We have that birdy mama.
I really want to try to see if she'll adopt them.
NATHAN: Are you talking about inside the coop?
Make an area?
SAMANTHA: Yes. Like a birdy hen pen.
NATHAN: I think our whole poultry operation
needs an entire revamp--
get the chicken coop redone,
get 'em a run, get 'em a netted-off area,
and getting a cozy area for the chicks.
It's important to keep them warm and healthy
and should probably get going and figure it out
before we have 25 chickens to deal with.
SAMANTHA: Sounds like a plan.
♪ ♪
We happen to have, like, a lot of the resources
just kind of laying around
because we have all these scraps from other projects.
And so, all we're gonna do is build a wooden frame
with just enough space
so that the chickens can be comfortable in there.
It's in.
NATHAN: Let's do this top board.
(banging)
(whirring)
SAMANTHA: The idea of just utilizing
the inside of the chicken coop
and just giving them their own space,
as well as, like, a brooding box for the moms
where they can go and produce their eggs.
NATHAN: That's gonna work pretty well.
SAMANTHA: I think so.
You've upset the chickens.
(squawking)
♪ ♪
(whirring)
NATHAN: Lift it up.
SAMANTHA: Whoa! It's so light and lovely.
Now I love it. It's great.
NATHAN: I think it's pretty groovy.
SAMANTHA: I think it's perfectly
exactly what we need it for.
NATHAN: Yeah.
JOHNNY: Out here, I'm up against physical challenges.
Whether it be the weather, the hardships...
(gunshot)
...everything that goes into a subsistence lifestyle.
But today things are a little different.
I'm kind of faced against more of a mental challenge.
So right now, I'm heading over to the shore.
I got 210 foot of gill net that I'm putting out in the water
to catch silvers, which are coho salmon.
The fishery opens in about 20 minutes.
It's a subsistence fishery
that's only for Alaskan residents,
and they allow us to basically get what you need, you know,
to kind of carry you through
whatever season you're trying to get through.
And it is a time crunch because in the past years,
Fish and Game will cut it off, close it down.
It's because people have caught enough fish,
and they don't want us to over-harvest.
So, it's almost like a derby fishery--
get what you can while you can before they close it off.
I'm hoping that I can get some, some fish.
I mean, how cool would it be to bring Java back a fish?
That would make my day and make her day.
So that's the cork line there.
Man, this is gonna be a hell of a net to set.
It's weird not having my sidekick.
She's been on most every hunt, most every adventure.
I had to go into town because Java was not feeling good.
I had to take her to a vet, they ran some X-rays,
and they saw a large tissue mass by her heart,
and they're confident it's a tumor.
But right now, we don't know.
Java's gonna be staying home, resting up, taking it easy,
and I'm just gonna have to be out here by myself.
I'm just so anxious to see the net start bobbing,
because that means you got fish.
There we go, this is the flow I need right here, look at this.
This is what I need.
Yeah!
That's it right there.
That's the end of it.
Nice.
Okay, hook up this anchor.
♪ ♪
Just gonna let it soak.
It's just nice being out here, you know.
It's just a lot of wildlife going on.
Eagles, salmon swimming around in the bay, hopefully.
Got a couple loons here.
Really, the only thing missing is Java.
It's a foreign thing
for me to be having an adventure without her.
It's not, uh, as enjoyable, honestly.
♪ ♪
Oh!
I got a loon in the net.
♪ ♪
You're okay, buddy.
♪ ♪
(squawk)
♪ ♪
JOHNNY: What side of the net are you in?
I'm just gonna cut the net.
I've never had this happen before.
Hold on, buddy.
Hold on.
You are really in here, dude.
♪ ♪
So close.
♪ ♪
(squawk)
How about that?
I got a soft spot for loons.
This can get fixed right here.
If there's a dead loon in my net,
that can't get fixed, and I feel guilty,
and I feel bad.
You know, I'm in its habitat right now.
NATHAN: We raised chickens back in Oregon,
but raising chickens up here in Alaska
is definitely a much larger challenge
because of the weather and the elements.
It's just a completely different environment.
It's a lot to learn.
Time for the door.
All right, let me grab the chainsaw,
and I'll finish cutting this.
(buzzing)
We're gonna add a chicken door to their coop,
so that way we don't have to worry
as far as letting them out and in every day
or leave the door wide open because predators can get in.
This is gonna help keep them safe,
keep them in a confined area,
and kind of solve many problems at once.
(buzzing)
All right, we have a hole.
So now we got to put these rails on.
SAMANTHA: Chickens are already starting to check it out.
NATHAN: Yeah.
SAMANTHA: "What is this hole in our wall?"
The whole thought is to give them freedom
so we're not just constantly in their space.
Happy chickens taste better, their eggs taste better,
everything about them is just a lot better.
NATHAN: So this, I think...
(clucking)
(whirring)
(clucking)
This is a timer
that we get to choose what time it opens and closes.
This'll just hold it in this general area,
and then we'll connect the cord to the power supply.
SAMANTHA: See if it works.
Wow.
Oh, would you look at that!
So we won't end up with chickens chopped in half.
That's good.
Cool.
It's pretty fancy.
(laughing)
It goes real slow, but I like it.
See, he's looking at the door.
Be smart, do the thing.
Come on, buddy.
Maybe if you just coax him--
Oh, no, he's going through on his own.
Yes!
Yes, do that.
Now you follow, you follow.
(clucking)
Yes!
I am thrilled.
I am so proud of you guys.
It's kind of cool to watch them use it.
CHEVIE: When you're facing danger,
you got to use that pressure
and that instinct
to get the best out of yourself.
It's driven by fear.
But you have to turn that fear...
into focus.
(whispering) I got a black bear going into my house right here.
I'm talking to Sonta.
I'm telling her I'm at the birch trees
in front of the house.
(bleep) the real deal.
My family's in there.
SONTA: (whispering) He's just come back just now.
I just put the kids to bed, and it's outside our back door.
I can hear it kind of thrashing about.
CHEVIE: It's the same black bear that came last night.
My wife and my kids are in there.
I can't have that animal around here.
We try to keep our trash covered,
but if it wants to get in there, it could get in there.
A wild animal is a wild animal.
SONTA: Okay.
So, I'm near the door, on a chair.
And he's right there,
eating the trash.
He's really big.
CHEVIE: She wants to know where I'm at,
in case she has to shoot or do something.
I'm just gonna tell her to wait.
SONTA: I have my gun.
Chevie's out there.
I'm ready to rock and roll if I need to.
♪ ♪
I feel like shooing it out the door.
CHEVIE: Sonta knows better right now than to scare it.
She wants this thing put down.
If she bangs on that door or kicks that door,
alls it would take is just a split second,
and that thing would be in my house.
I got to let him come all the way out of that porch.
I can't shoot him when he's halfway out,
or else he'll roll back into my porch
and start thrashing around,
so I just got to wait for him to come all the way out.
So I just got to be patient.
(clattering)
SONTA: I'm just waiting for Chevie to get a good look at it.
CHEVIE: If I walk up there and shoot that thing in my porch,
by the time I pull the trigger and tried to get out of the way,
he'd probably already be coming over the top of me
to try to get out of there.
There he is.
I really don't want to shoot him inside that porch.
♪ ♪
(click)
♪ ♪
(gunshot)
♪ ♪
CHEVIE: He's done.
All right, I hit it hard a couple times.
SONTA: Wow, good shot, Chev.
CHEVIE: Hey, honey. How are the kids doing?
SONTA: They're all sleeping,
so this was actually really good timing.
CHEVIE: I was thinking it was going to come back
in the middle of the night or in the morning or something, but...
SONTA: Yeah. It's not afraid.
You know, they're just so curious.
CHEVIE: I know. It was, like, staring at me.
His bottom lip was down,
he was kind of like looking at me like, "This is my house."
SONTA: Yeah. Well, he just ate a five-course meal pretty much.
I watched him eat some hot dogs and some croutons.
He had a good last meal.
I was amazed at how fast it ran, even after it got hit.
CHEVIE: And that's why I didn't want to do it from right here.
SONTA: Right.
CHEVIE: Shooting this way,
waiting for it to come down, it's too close.
SONTA: Yeah.
CHEVIE: Geez, did I tell you you look pretty
with a gun on your back?
SONTA: I was ready just in case.
I had my .375.
I had two shells just in case.
I mean, you never know if they're gonna jiggle the door
or something.
CHEVIE: Crazy seeing it sticking its head out of there.
SONTA: Yeah. CHEVIE: Boy, its head was big.
SONTA: I'm glad you got him down.
CHEVIE: Not today.
SONTA: Not today.
JOHNNY: There's like a bond between Java and I
that I've never had with another dog.
And to be going out on adventures without her
is just not the same.
But nothing's gonna make her happier
than just bringing a fish home.
♪ ♪
So the net's been soaking for a little bit.
Let's kind of go give it a check, see what's going on.
Sometimes it gets full of debris,
sometimes it gets full of fish.
♪ ♪
I got a hole here.
Down in there if there's fish in it or not.
There's definitely a decent little bit of seaweed in here,
which is not ideal.
A lot of debris can get hung up in the net.
And the longer the net,
the more chances you have of catching a lot of fish,
the more chance you have of catching a lot of debris.
If you get too much seaweed in the net,
the net becomes a sail
and the current just starts kind of taking it
where it wants to go.
Just kind of walk down the net.
And I can't run my motor along this net
because my prop on the engine's
gonna get tangled up all in the net.
Best to just kind of walk along it like this,
use manpower.
♪ ♪
Just the wind.
But right now, the only thing I'm catching is, uh, sea grass,
so no go on the fish so far.
Not a lot going on in the net right now.
I don't want to give up,
but at some point, I got to call it quits.
It's hard to, like, just be out here right now anyway.
I just think about Java a lot right now,
and she's just sitting at home,
you know, moaning and not feeling good,
and she's in pain,
and it makes me kind of feel the pain.
I just wanted to get this net full of fish
and get the hell out of here, honestly.
♪ ♪
KALEB: I think I've been traveling this river
since I was maybe 10 years old.
I know this river,
the in and outs of it.
I've been on it in the summertime,
in the wintertime.
To me, it's a friend.
This sand is gonna be used
for just leveling out the pads for my tent platform
because when I go to put a post on that rock, that rocky soil,
that post's not gonna be able to just sit there and be planted.
This sand, I can make it perfectly flat
and pack it down a little bit.
I can set the post onto the sand nice and firm,
and that post'll stay standing on me.
Get as much as I can in the bucket here.
There, that's ready to go.
So, it's very useful stuff for me.
And, ooh, it's heavy.
(barking)
Load up. Come on, let's go. Load up!
Good girl!
♪ ♪
Work is not worth doing if it's not done right.
And so I want to do everything right on this project.
I want to make sure this platform's square, it's level.
♪ ♪
All of the posts are bearing the same amount of weight.
Sand just makes it all flat.
Perfect for setting a post on.
So that this platform doesn't fail on me
when there's four feet of snow on it.
All right, I'm all ready to burn these posts,
but there's a thunder cell somewhere just south of me here,
and it's whipping up one heck of a nasty bit of wind here.
And I don't want a spark getting loose
and starting a forest fire
'cause the ground is so dry right now.
So I have to be careful.
KALEB: The idea here
is just to get a nice layer of char on here,
and that becomes waterproof.
This is really neat.
When I'm moving the torch around this wood,
I can actually see the grain of the wood constricting
to create that water-tight barrier
that will protect these logs for many years to come.
Nice and charred,
stick it in the sand,
and there it's gonna stay.
(grunts)
Now, place those beams on...
screw 'em down to the posts,
and then square everything up.
(whirring)
I've got these floor joists laying around on my property
from a job I did last fall,
so these guys are gonna be
what actually supports the structure of my tent,
and they're here, they're available.
Even though all it's designed to do
is hold a tent that weighs 160 pounds,
the platform's gonna have
multiple thousand pounds of snow on it.
And I have to account for that in my design.
Last of the joists on,
now I got to shape the prow on the front here.
(buzzing)
For the vestibule on the tent.
That went great!
Now this guy goes on there like that.
(whirring)
All right. I got everything trimmed off on this.
(groans)
It's time to start decking this tent platform.
I'll start in the back.
I'm just gonna throw everything on for now.
All right. I've got all the decking on,
but right now, it is time to screw and screw and screw
until I'm sick of it.
NATHAN: So, we have a ton of chickens right now,
probably 30 plus.
Laying hens and roosters mixed in there.
We want to protect the chickens from the predators in the area,
'cause they'll take a chicken in a heartbeat if they can.
(squawking)
So I feel like we can just pound some posts in here
and run some fencing here,
open this up so they have a little run-through area.
And then, uh, we'll finish the fencing over there,
pound some posts in,
throw some fence up and some bird netting afterwards,
and they'll have a nice little area.
And I think just leave all that brush and stuff
for them to kind of play in and hide out and pick bugs.
SAMANTHA: I think it'll be great.
We'll go get what we need?
NATHAN: Yeah.
So we're gonna first start by opening up part of the fencing
and open up to the back area
that we want to incorporate into the run.
Right now, our chickens are kind of free range,
they just kind of run around the property.
They've gotten into our cabbage and brassica garden
and kind of decimated it.
So, until we get them tied up and cooped up completely,
um, it'll be hard to keep them out.
SAMANTHA: I actually didn't have, like, any confidence
in my ability to do this.
It didn't go too bad.
Ugh.
Now, if I can... this from this side.
NATHAN: We'll just work on this big square here.
Let's stretch this out and see if this fits here.
SAMANTHA: Yeah, I'll hold it at this end.
NATHAN: It might be a little short.
Here we go.
Yeah, maybe we want to zip-tie every little spot, though.
SAMANTHA: I'm willing.
Building or fixing things is usually not my strong point,
but living in Alaska,
it's helped me see myself a lot differently,
like not like something I've ever done before.
So, the fact that I actually have this opportunity
to kind of play around with that and help my husband out,
it's really nice.
Rocko, look it. You have a whole area now.
What do you think?
(crowing)
So, are we gonna put bird netting
over the top of this?
And how is that gonna work?
NATHAN: Yeah. Just like when you walk into an aviary,
you see in the center they got the giant beams,
and it all kind of comes up to a peak there.
So we'll have to drill some, a couple holes with the auger,
two or three or four.
SAMANTHA: I like that.
NATHAN: We rely on the chickens for eggs, meat as well,
utilize the chicken poop for our garden,
so they're important to us.
SAMANTHA: Can I drill the last one?
NATHAN: Yeah.
You know, with all of our livestock,
we want all of our animals to not just survive up here
but to thrive.
And so that's kind of the goal with this chicken coop revamp
and creating the run
and, you know, netting them in.
Super.
And then hang on a second.
SAMANTHA: I'm hanging.
NATHAN: Pack it in.
And if we have to, I'll get on the ladder
and just chop off what we don't need.
We'll see where we're at once we get all the posts in.
♪ ♪
SAMANTHA: That's some pretty good poles there.
So, I guess next step,
grab the ladder and your saw, and what?
Just trim off the tops to about the height we want 'em?
NATHAN: Yeah.
♪ ♪
(buzzing)
SAMANTHA: Whoo!
NATHAN: Here goes.
SAMANTHA: Careful!
SAMANTHA: Nice.
I am completely intimidated
by this big, tangly, horrifying, hair-like mesh.
NATHAN: I guess the good news is
we came up here knowing that this was gonna be a giant...
SAMANTHA: Learning curve?
NATHAN: Learning experience, yeah.
SAMANTHA: The whole thing.
NATHAN: Give it a good five, seven years,
and maybe we'll be on our feet somewhat by then.
SAMANTHA: We have a lot to learn.
I mean, the hardest and the best lessons that we've learned
and the things that stick the most
are the ones that caused, like, the most pain.
That's always where I've learned the most
is when I'm, when I'm hurting.
Like losing my mom
taught me the value of every single human being,
and what, why, why choosing love is so stinking important.
On the farm, we've been through a lot of heartbreaking things,
even losing our family milk cow.
That was probably the hardest of them all.
I want things out and not eating my chickens,
'cause I do like my chickens.
That is the biggest challenge that we face
is figuring out how to keep the animals
fed and alive and healthy
and getting this farm self-sustainable.
This has been one of the most intense tasks,
like, I've ever taken on,
and I feel like we did really, really well with it.
I mean, shockingly well.
CHEVIE: Alaska Native people
have been dealing with wild animals forever.
And you need to understand,
we live in that same ecosystem that they live in.
And how you treat animals and how you conduct yourself...
Ugh.
...is who you are.
Ugh. Damn.
Look at that big, wide skull.
This is a fully mature male black bear.
They don't get a whole bunch bigger than this around here.
A little bit, but not much.
You have to be the apex predator to keep your family safe.
It's all there is to it.
The skin's still really good on this bear.
It's nice to see a long hide.
We can use that fur for something,
and we'll be able to eat all this meat.
And I'm gonna take care of this bear.
We got a lot of respect for these animals out here.
Little bit of sugar, little bit of water.
This is something that Sonta's dad told me to do
when I get one of these.
And there's some other things,
some cultural secrets I can't show everybody,
but this is just one of them.
They really like sweet stuff-- blueberries, honey--
so with this animal,
you put a little bit of sugar in its mouth,
just a little drink of water,
and, um, get to work.
I thought I was done messing with fur for the year.
Not quite.
You see this long hair on their arm?
You always skin right on that side
of that long part of their hair.
Open it up down the middle.
That's good-looking meat.
It's all about the process of how you take care of this animal
that shows your respect.
Try not to cut any holes in its hide,
all of its bones have to stay intact.
You can't use a saw on the ribs or the legs or none of that.
That's Sonta's culture,
but I've been taught it by her dad and other people here.
And it's my responsibility to know some of it
and to be respectful.
Big thing is getting the heat out of it.
That's what will cause it to rot.
So I just want to get this hide rolled off.
I want to make sure to clean it up good, let it cool,
and then I can just finish it in that smokehouse.
♪ ♪
JOHNNY: To me, getting my own food
is a lot better than fighting cars in a parking lot.
This lifestyle isn't meant to be easy,
and these are challenges I would rather face
than any challenge that I face in town.
So, it looked like one of the buoys
was bobbing a little bit.
And you can see
there's a little bit of some waves lapping on the shore,
so it's hard to tell, is it lapping, is it a fish?
So I'm just gonna go check it out.
You know, this isn't one of those nets
where you just set it and just walk away
and let it do its fishing.
This is one that I like to babysit,
because it's important to get each fish out as they hit it,
even if it's just one at a time,
so it's important to just stay close
and always keep an eye on that net.
♪ ♪
So far, nothing.
Just more grass.
Grass, grass, grass.
Oh, hey, here we go.
Look at this.
JOHNNY: Got me a fish.
Man, he is in there.
Buddy, you are tangled up, dude.
Dude, this guy is in there.
You really, really stretched out this net.
I'm surprised he's still alive.
Okay, I think I got it.
♪ ♪
Good God.
All right. Hey, there we go.
This is a sockeye.
Typically a coho run,
but sometimes you get a couple sockeye.
That's cool.
At this fishery,
the fish come by kind of one, two at a time,
and you just pick them out as they come.
You don't wait for the whole net to be full of fish
because they just get way too tangled up.
So it's best to just get each fish out
as you see one hit the net.
He's only hooked by his mouth.
♪ ♪
Look at this guy.
He's not even...
Here we go.
♪ ♪
That's another red.
That's another sockeye.
♪ ♪
This is the first time I've done this fishery,
and having success is a milestone,
it's an achievement.
It feels good to be continuing on this subsistence lifestyle,
to be that much more self-reliant
to feed myself and feed my dog.
All right.
Got a decent amount of fish.
Probably pull up that anchor and wrap it up.
I just got to get back to Java.
I feel guilty being out here.
(clucking and honking)
SAMANTHA: Come on.
Come on.
(clucking and honking)
Chicky chickees.
Oh, only a couple.
We got the chickens into the chicken run.
I don't know if they really notice much of a difference,
but I know that once they realize
that they can go in this back area,
they're gonna be really having a lot of fun.
Coaxing them back there with the grain, I think, is great,
'cause they get to actually see that they are welcome back there
and they get to know that they have a whole pathway
just designated for them.
I think they'll like it.
I'm hoping that they'll start utilizing this area and whatnot.
They probably looked at this place
as like a predator zone before,
but it's nice and tucked-in now.
NATHAN: I think we'll appreciate them staying out of the garden.
SAMANTHA: That, too.
We should probably get the chicks
and put them in their spot.
NATHAN: Even better. SAMANTHA: Yeah.
(clucking)
There you go.
NATHAN; That's how I usually eat my chicken.
SAMANTHA: Oh, my goodness.
(chirping)
Come on, babies.
(chirping)
What do you think? Do you want to come out and say hi?
(chirping)
Come on, mama.
(clucking)
What do you think?
(clucking)
I'm gonna put this down maybe
and just see if we can give her a few minutes
to recognize that her eggs are right there.
And the chicks are doing great.
NATHAN: They seem to like their new little area.
SAMANTHA: Yeah. Probably a lot more fun in the long run, too.
I think they're gonna really like it.
I mean, they obviously do right now,
so that makes me happy.
Oh, something's going on there.
Myrtle does seem to be, uh,
she does seem to be warming up to the idea of this brooder box.
She's seen her eggs and she's going in,
and she's, like, laying on them
and bunching them up underneath of her,
so I think she understands now that this is her new place.
So I think we did good.
I mean, we got that whole run done.
We got it completely bird-netted in.
This brooder box is awesome.
I think we got everything that we need to get done
done for now.
NATHAN: Several things checked off the list.
KALEB: I think I, uh, nailed this platform.
About perfect.
I don't think I need to do any further modification
to this platform.
It just fits so perfectly.
These are just gonna get wrapped down like that.
Water will shed.
This platform won't even get wet.
(whirring)
That's it for this.
My tent's secure.
The wind can howl, it's not going anywhere.
And this is kind of a big step.
I can jump it, but that always gets old really quick,
so I've got an idea for a set of stairs.
Found these antlers in the forest.
And I'm kind of thinking, if I stick them under here,
might be able to put a one-by across.
This is a tough job by myself.
Uff da!
(whirring)
I'm looking forward to coming out here next winter.
And I don't have to worry about my woodstove tipping over
and melting a hole in the floor,
or worse yet, catching the whole tent on fire.
That looks good.
Pretty happy with what I accomplished today.
Everything's done.
Now I can focus on getting the work done elsewhere.
I don't have to worry about my home base.
Good day, good day.
All right.
Time for lights out.
(zipping)
(motorcycle sputtering)
SONTA: Okay, you girls ready?
Let's go clean this up.
It's a lot.
Wow.
Look at that.
See how it just tears stuff up with its claw?
Just sliced this.
SYDNEY: Hey, Dad.
SONTA: Emery, open the bag.
Come on.
SYDNEY: We're gonna need a new broom after this.
CHEVIE: It's kind of a mess,
but I'm glad that this is, this is all we're dealing with.
All this stuff is replaceable and fixable,
and, uh, got a little extra meat in the freezer.
♪ ♪
It's just a good reminder,
just because that one's gone,
that doesn't mean they're all gone.
It's always a good thing to remember
is, like, never let your guard down
when you're out doing stuff, okay?
Even if we are at our house, okay?
SYDNEY: Okay. CHEVIE: All right?
SONTA: All right. I'm glad this is all behind us now.
We got a cleaned-up porch.
Now we can get anything out of our freezer, right?
SYDNEY: Like ice cream.
♪ ♪
SONTA: Nice to know it's in the smokehouse now
and taken care of.
And I'm really glad
we don't have anything else to worry about.
Right? For now.
RYDER: You have me to worry about.
SYDNEY: Yeah, definitely got to worry about him.
(Sonta chuckles)
(wind chime tinkling)
♪ ♪
JOHNNY: Sweet.
What do you think, Java?
Hmm?
Hang out in the grass?
(sighs)
You're just ready to eat, aren't you?
You got to be hungry, man.
So I got to go five hours from here
to investigate what's going on with Java.
That's kind of some of the downsides
of living rural, you know.
It's not always a perfect romantic life.
And I just don't imagine,
I can't imagine what it would be like without her.
I'm supposed to be tough guy in the woods, huh?
You're making me all sensitive.
We're gonna get you what you need, girl.
We're gonna take care of you.
♪ ♪
Being here with Java under these uncertain circumstances
kind of makes me realize actually how much
I do rely on her for emotional support.
It makes me smile seeing her eat.
I always looked at it as she relies on me,
but I'm really coming to terms with the fact
of how much I rely on her.
This is, like, the most I've seen her eat in a week.
Gonna make me cry.
Here. More for you.
You deserve it.
See, I'm gonna give you your own whole piece, Java.
Your own whole side.
♪ ♪
It seems like no matter what lifestyle we live,
we're gonna have a challenge.
We're gonna face adversity.
But when life throws you challenges...
how you handle those challenges...
SAMANTHA: Oh, I missed.
JOHNNY: ...it's really what's going to define who you are.
Even if things don't work out
the way you intended them to work...
SAMANTHA: I think they're starting to get the idea.
JOHNNY: At the end of the day,
I would still rather face these challenges,
'cause it sure beats a predictable lifestyle.
♪ ♪
Captioned by Side Door Media Services