[reporter] A winter weather alert is in effect for North Arkansas,
bringing extreme temperatures and whiteout conditions.
Officials are urging residents to and avoid driving due
to snow accumulation and ice. Please stay off the roads.
[Marty whistles]
[Marty] Gotta get out of here!
[Misty] Everybody is just kind of scattering.
Full blown state of emergency.
It's really starting to come down.
We got to go. It's like no time to waste.
[Marty] Hurry up!
[Misty] We don't want to get stranded on this homestead.
[Matt] Here we go.
[Marty] When it comes to the basics
of homesteads, these people are striking out.
-You don't have water to even water a plant. -No.
[Marty] I can feel water falling from the sky right now.
You're drowning in water, but dying of thirst.
[Ashli] Our dream is to have our multi-generational homestead.
I want to have our own produce and be able to live off
the land, you know? -These boys are invested.
They are putting work in.
We built the cabin in a short amount of time.
If this house was in town, they would condemn it.
[Ashli] We are not too proud to say we don't know everything.
We want to learn, and we need help.
[Misty] There's no future homestead unless we figure out water.
-[Marty] What do you see? -[Chris] Looks pretty dry.
[Matt] The animals' lives are at stake.
[Misty] Whoa.
We need to help them now.
[Misty] There's a full-blown blizzard on the way to the homestead.
[Marty] We're gonna help this family,
or we're gonna die trying.
[theme song playing]
[country music playing]
It's good to be in a new state.
[Marty] Arkansas is the land of extremes.
This place gets all four seasons in one day.
It's 33 degrees now.
It's gonna be 14 degrees tonight.
Pull up your homesteader pants 'cause it's gonna get cold,
wet, and right now it could snow.
[Matt] Yikes.
[narrator] It's late winter, and the Raneys answer a plea
from deep within northwest Arkansas, where a young
family's struggling homestead is besieged by mother nature.
Situated in the rolling hills of the Ozark Mountains,
the area is known for its rich timber and milling industry,
owing to the region's dense forests and plentiful rivers.
However, the weather extremes make it a gamble
for the unprepared.
Unpredictable forecasts are common, and harsh summer
droughts turned to frigid winter storms, bringing up
to 50 inches of annual rainfall and severe flash flooding.
And without fundamental survival means,
northwest Arkansas can quickly break determined
but inexperienced homesteaders.
My name is Ashli Curry, and this is my husband,
Chris Curry.
We live on a 40-acre homestead in northwest Arkansas
with our two boys.
[Chris] Baylan and Malakai.
[Ashli] We moved out to our homestead at the end of 2020,
and every day we all wake up feeling blessed.
And so this property was our miracle, and we named it
Miracle Mountain Homestead.
[Chris] We have goats here, chickens.
[Ashli] Quail, a couple guineas.
We sell the goats' offspring and sell eggs and chicks.
The quail are a good meat source because we want to be
self-sustainable.
And our dream is to have our entire family on this homestead,
meaning my parents, my husband's parents,
and our children, and for this homestead to provide
for generations to come.
[Baylan] I'd love to inherit the homestead, build upon
the homestead myself.
Just having all the animals is really cool, and having all
this place to explore.
[Chris] When we first purchased the land, we built the cabin
in a short amount of time before winter hit.
We did what we had to do, and we didn't think
it was gonna be permanent.
[Ashli] But northwest Arkansas is completely unpredictable,
and we have gotten in a little over our heads.
[Chris] We have a lot of flash flooding, and that essentially
has tore our foundation up.
[Ashli] We have jacked up the house at least three times to try
to level it out where we can just open our front door
without issues.
And over time, it just keeps settling and drooping,
and we're having to spend the time fixing that instead
of working on permanent housing.
And now it's just been one problem after another.
[Chris] Another big challenge right now is water.
I'm positive that there's water here.
Unfortunately, it's very expensive to dig well.
So we started collecting rainwater.
[Ashli] But the catchment tanks, they're not
completely enclosed.
They're exposed to the elements.
We have found frogs in our water.
We have found disgusting algae.
And now we haul water two to four times a week.
We have barely enough water to sustain our daily needs,
so we are unable to grow any food.
And the amount of money that we're having to spend
for a family of four each week at the grocery store is a huge
weight on our shoulders.
[Chris] We've been motivated. We've tried.
We do our best every single day.
[Ashli] But the dream seems harder to reach, with each obstacle
we have to overcome.
Without water security, shelter security,
and food security,
I'm not sure how much longer we're gonna be able
to survive out here.
Raneys, please come save us.
[honking]
[country music playing]
-[Misty] Hello. -[Ashli] Hello.
Welcome to Arkansas. Ashli.
-Christopher. -Christopher.
Nice to meet you. Marty Raney.
-[Misty] How old are you guys? -Eight.
And I'm 13.
How long has this family been on this property?
[Malakai] Four years.
Has anything ever gone wrong
in the last four years out here?
A few weeks ago, one of our goats had babies,
and some of them frozen, and now some of our goats
are depressed.
-Aw. -Oh, so that's not good news.
-No. -What is the goal here?
The goal is to be self-sustainable,
but we've never been able to grow any food
because we don't have a source of water.
I can feel water falling from the sky right now, right?
Most of our water that we wash dishes with, feed the animals
with, comes from the rain.
-OK. -We just don't have enough to catch the rain.
We are not too proud to say we don't know everything,
we don't know what we're doing, and we want to learn
and we need help. -That's a good place to start.
[Ashli] After we met, both of us just knew we were each other's
person, and that the future gave us two beautiful boys,
and led to us starting a business.
In 2013, we opened up the first organic juice
and smoothie bar in Arkansas.
And we successfully ran it for nine years.
Running the business was exactly the example that
I wanted for our kids to show them how to chop the fruits
and vegetables and run them through the juicer.
And it was a beautiful thing to watch.
And then, when 2020 hit, we struggled through COVID.
[Chris] And we had to shut down the business.
I felt like a failure, but I had to stay motivated
and stay positive.
We had lived out here for a few months, and it was very sad
closing the juice bar, but we started to be able
to focus our energies on the homestead.
I always wanted that juice bar to provide financially
for my mom and dad, and so it became vital to us to be able
to still use the homestead to support and help both
of our parents to provide a place where they could build
a home and not have to worry about paying for their care.
It is a way to provide and connect to everyone.
My dad actually had started building his cabin for one day
in the future, but without
a source of water, it is not even an option.
[Marty] All right. What am I looking at here, sir?
[Chris] So this is the rain catchment system
that we first started off with. -[Marty] Mm-hmm.
And so the water catches on the bottom, and then we have
a sump pump that pumps it to the top, where we have
an inline pump that pumps it to the house.
Are you hauling water too?
Yeah, if it's too dry, then we haul it from a spring,
eight miles down the road, or so. -OK.
Have you looked around here for water?
I personally think there's water right here.
And the sycamore trees just keep on coming back.
I heard that that's a good sign of water.
They need a lot of water.
This part of Arkansas got 50 inches of rain.
Wow.
So if you've got a couple sycamore trees,
that doesn't mean anything to me.
In a small tour of this property, I'm seeing
rainwater everywhere.
But when I look at the water they're catching in those
tanks, it's certainly not potable.
The really big question is, what's going on?
I knew we got a lot of rain because we lose so much water.
-What do you mean, "lose it"? -That one overflows.
This one overflows. We had these two.
[Marty] Yes.
[Chris] But these got busted and frozen.
[Marty] OK.
If this fills up with water, it just goes over the top.
-[Chris] Yeah. -That concerns me a little bit
because your house is right here.
What kind of a foundation does this have?
[Chris] This is a pallet foundation.
[Marty] Hold on.
There is no such thing as a pallet foundation.
[Chris] It wasn't the plan.
Our plan was to live in our camper and save money,
and then get a traditional foundation.
And then my father in law said, "We can build you something
to live in."
[Marty] I'm just gonna say it right now.
You've got a problem.
This pains me.
It's just a matter of time with the water overflowing.
Just come in this direction, under the house.
These pallets are
on a clock right now.
Building your house on these pallets, they're gonna pay
for that someday. So this homestead...
has some issues.
[Ashli] So we cleared this area, and in my mind, it would be
a good spot for a garden because it has the potential
for a lot of sunshine.
Have you attempted to garden before?
We have not because you can't keep a plant alive,
if you can't water it.
So you don't have water to even water a plant?
No.
What was the dream initially?
We wanted this to be a multi-generational homestead.
We wanted to provide a place where my parents and Chris's
parents could live here.
But again, when you don't have the basic necessity of water,
it's not possible. This is a lot of pressure.
This homestead's pretty concerning to me because not
only do I see a big family, a ton of animals.
For a homestead with no water,
it looks like there's water everywhere.
And right now, I'm realizing there's no future homestead
unless we figure out water.
[Baylan] This is the goat barn.
[Matt] You're having babies in the middle of winter?
How did that happen?
We really need to separate
the boy goats and the mama goats from all the rest of them.
[Matt] But you didn't.
There was actually more goats and they ended up freezing
because it was too cold.
We've had to actually bring in the mama and baby new goats
inside because how cold it's been.
-Do we have to do that tonight? -[Baylan and Malakai] Yeah.
Holy smokes.
There might be 100 animals on this homestead.
They've lost count. at this point.
Some of them are very young goats, and they're all
in danger of the wet, cold weather.
And tonight, it's supposed to be 17 degrees.
And right now, we have no way to save any of these animals.
This is our quail run slash coop.
[Matt] How are these quail doing in the cold?
-Not very well. -Not that good.
Whenever it rains like this and gets really muddy,
they can get sick that way.
Quail, when healthy, are a valuable homestead
resource for quick egg and meat production, providing not only
protein, but also a potential income source.
Because of their small size, quail cost less to raise than
traditional poultry, making them an efficient option
for small-scale farming or homesteading.
I definitely think it needs a lot more protection
from the elements. Do you have some hay?
-[Malakai] Yeah. -Can you go get some?
[Malakai] Yeah.
OK, let's go do it right now.
I think that's about enough.
I tell you what, I feel like the temperature's dropping
as we speak.
Oh yeah.
Just get all in those egg crates.
You think that one's alive in there, sleeping,
or you think it's not?
I think it passed.
[Matt] OK.
All right.
I'm really worried about the loss of life
on this homestead. This is a food source for them.
This is a source of income.
And Baylan and Malakai have a lot of time invested
into this livestock dream. They are putting work in.
And when you raise livestock, a predator can come
in many forms.
But right now, the big killer is bad, cold weather.
A lot more is gonna have to happen if you're gonna have
a better success raising livestock in the wintertime.
[goats bleating]
[suspenseful music playing]
Let's just cut right to the chase.
Food, shelter, water.
What did you guys discover when it comes to food?
There's no garden. There's no greenhouse.
They haven't attempted gardening
because there's no water.
I actually feel for Ashli, and she's definitely
at the breaking point.
There's a lot of livestock, but there's no separation
of any of the animals.
However, the quail have their own spot,
but it's abysmal, and we found a dead quail in there.
[Marty] They've been here four years.
They've not produced one drop of water from the ground here.
[Misty] I don't know how that's possible.
Everywhere you look, there's water.
there's water running right here.
So they're not self-sufficient, self-sustaining.
How are they doing in shelter? I would say they're in trouble.
They built a house on pallets.
It's only a matter of time before that floor
does start to rot. But it's such a daunting task.
I think we're gonna set it on a back burner and try
to start focusing on what? -Water.
Exactly.
-[Marty] How are you guys? -Pretty good.
We've made some observations about the barns, and the pens,
and the wet ground.
You're drowning in water, but dying of thirst.
Your hope is dying. It's affecting your lives.
It's affecting these livestock. It's affecting everything.
I understand something died since we've been here, quail.
Every time it rains, we lose quail.
-Every time it rains? -Every time it rains.
It's a heavy one, it seems.
It's because they're on the ground.
When it comes to the basics of homesteads,
these beautiful people are striking out.
What can we do to help them?
I'm not sure I know the answer, because this homestead is
definitely intimidating and challenging,
but we'll throw everything we have at it.
Our work is cut out for us, all right?
That said, you're not happy.
There's problems here, and that has to change.
[upbeat country music playing]
-[rooster crows] -[Marty] Good morning!
It's day two on the Currys' 40-acre homestead
in northwest Arkansas.
The sun came out.
That's good. What's the forecast?
Do you know?
Might be some heavier weather tomorrow.
OK.
And on the main road to the property, Marty and Chris
begin searching for a permanent water source.
-[Marty] How's the animals? -They're doing great.
[Marty] OK.
[Chris] We put some more pine shavings in the quail, and then also did
a wind block with some particle board around the bottom edges.
Makes me feel good. That's good news.
Thank you.
Well, our mission here is to try to get that thing
on your property.
We need water. Our number one issue is water.
I've found some areas that there could be a spring towards
the cabin and towards their sycamore trees.
So we'll start in those spots and see if we can dig a big
hole that fills up with water. We'll be good to go.
Marty will search the homestead for a permanent water source,
digging 10 feet down in the most promising areas
near the Currys' cabin.
Once he determines the source to be viable, he'll install
a culvert in the spring, adding gravel to filter
the water, before finally digging a trench towards
the cabin and installing a water line to gravity feed
the precious resource to the family's home.
[Marty] We clear?
-[Matt] Clear. -[Marty] Cool.
[Chris] Marty and I were going to search for water close
to the house.
Not being able to find the solution or make this work
is just something that is in the back of my head.
I think it ties back to the business ending the way
that it did.
It's still hard not to feel like it was a failure.
And if this dream of ours were to fall apart,
I just don't know how I would deal with that.
[Marty] Here we go.
so Christopher says there could be water close to the house.
So the answers to all their problems
might just be right here.
We're gonna have to dig deep,
hopefully not too many times.
[intriguing music playing]
-[Matt] It got cold last night. -[Baylan] Yeah.
[Malakai] Yeah.
[Matt] Hopefully we were able to save those quail from a bad night.
[chirping]
OK, you came in here and did more.
Yeah.
Put some pine pellets and pine shavings.
-[Matt] That's amazing! -[Malakai] So none of them died.
[Matt] None of them died, you counted them?
[Baylan and Malakai] Yep.
[Matt] Shake my hand.
Finding out that Baylan and Malakai went the extra mile
and added more insulation over the night to save those quail,
that just shows me how much they're invested
in this entire livestock journey.
OK, it's only gonna be a matter of time before
the rain trickles through and it starts seeping in
and all this is gonna be turned back into mud.
And so the only way we can really help these quail is by
stopping that rain from coming in here once and for all
and getting them up off the ground.
Matt will remodel the quail coop by first removing
the battered roof and constructing a replacement
with upcycled materials found on the property.
Next, he'll utilize more salvaged parts to create
nesting boxes elevated above the muddy ground.
Finally, he'll insulate with straw, ensuring year-round
survivability against Arkansas's elements.
[Matt] First things first, we need to replace this roofing.
I'm excited that Matt's here, and I'm really looking forward
to work with him.
-Lift it. -[Malakai] Gonna make a waterfall.
[Matt] Let's let it pour off this way.
Pour this off, real quick. It's not all yet.
We're willing to do whatever it takes to improve the animals'
home and anything we can do to help them get better.
Hopefully it'll be a lot easier around here.
Now that we have that sagging roofing out of the way,
let's build a proper roof on this thing.
-[Malakai] OK, let's do it. -OK.
[Misty] You ready to start making some changes?
[Ashli] I'm ready.
Downhill from the cabin...
[Misty] There's sun.
-Yes. -[Misty] Oh, my gosh.
Thank the Lord.
Ashli wants this homesteading dream for the kids,
and the fact of the matter is, it's not working.
So I want to get her to a place where she's growing food.
I think first things first for me is try to push out this
footprint a little bit.
The amount of sun that you already get this early
in the morning is a good sign, and I feel like the options are
pretty limited when it comes to how much land you've cleared.
[Ashli] Yeah.
So this is a good jump start, so I'll take it.
-[Ashli] OK, let's do it. -[Misty] Ready?
OK!
Whoo!
Back uphill towards the family's cabin...
[Marty] That's not good. I don't see anything.
Not happy!
[country music playing]
That's deep.
There's nothing that resembles a spring.
Definitely empty.
I think what we'll do is we'll fill this hole back up.
Before it gets dark, we'll try to find one up there.
It'll be a miracle, but guess what?
I'll take it.
Coffee break's over!
Back to work.
-[Baylan] Malakai. -Grab it and bring it up there.
It's pretty light.
While Baylan and Malakai gather material to build a roof
for the quail pen, Matt second guesses his game plan.
[Matt] My first priority is protecting the food sources
for these homesteaders, but me and these boys are gonna
take two days making these quail safe and we're not gonna have
done one thing for the goats.
Usually, I wouldn't have time to build a structure,
but on this property, it's getting very cold.
I'm really concerned about these animals, and I need help
because I want to be able to save them all at the same time.
-Hey, Misty, can we talk? -Yeah.
What's up?
[Matt] This might be the craziest request.
It's gonna be colder tonight
and I don't have time to save both these quail and goats.
[Misty] OK.
And so I am asking for your help to literally stop working
here and come and help with the livestock.
I do think the animals' lives are at stake, and it's very
important that we drop everything
and we help them now.
This is just one of those homesteads where we're not
going to just go on with business as usual when animals'
lives are in danger.
And this is one homestead where they might not
get a greenhouse.
I mean, like...
-[Matt] See? -Now it's just sinking in.
[Matt] Yeah, it's starting to sink in.
[Misty] Ummmm...
OK.
Life takes priority over everything else, so let's go
take a look and see what we can do and come up with a plan.
[Matt] OK, let's save some livestock.
[Misty] Let's go.
[upbeat music playing]
[goats bleating]
[Misty] Let's talk about a few things.
What are you doing right now with temperatures this low with
kids that young?
We do a deep litter method where the manure gets covered
with fresh straw so it radiates heat at night.
But we have some that were born just four or five days ago...
Woah!
...and so we have been bringing them in at night
and putting them in a dog kennel to keep them safe.
Newborn goats, or kids, require special care
in their first few weeks of life,
and since they are especially vulnerable to hypothermia,
winter is among the worst times for breeding.
Because of this, breeders will strategically separate males
and females to keep from mating year-round.
[Misty] Where are they right now?
Whoa.
Those guys are little. Kids in the dead of wintertime.
[Ashli] Yeah, it's awful.
I'm so glad Matt called me over, because what is
happening at the livestock pens is not good.
We have four-day-old baby goats in freezing
temperatures in the dead of wintertime, and it's
this full-blown 12-alarm situation
that one person isn't gonna be able to fix.
He's shivering.
Yeah, this is way too cold for these four-day-old kids.
We're gonna change some things starting today.
[goats bleating]
[Misty] This is full-blown emergency.
[goat cries]
Oh, yeah. It's OK.
[suspenseful music playing]
So we have some four-day-old kids.
The temperatures were 8 degrees last night.
It's about 20 degrees right now in the sun.
There is not gonna be loss of life on our watch.
All right, what did you find?
Found some heat lamps that we used for our brooders
last year with the chicks.
OK, well, we'll take what we can get.
-OK. -OK.
When we started homesteading, it was all excitement
and tackling one thing at a time.
And after four years of it, the long-term vision is getting
harder to maintain because the weight of everything just...
is so heavy.
And the goats are a very large part of our homestead.
So knowing that they can survive through a night of cold
is exactly what we need right now.
I think we block this off from anybody getting in.
Right now, this free-for-all breeding program leading
to the consequence of having babies born in the dead
of wintertime is not great.
We want to prevent this from ever
happening again, right? Which is separating this buck.
So starting with a structure and a permanent fenced-in area,
I'm thinking, like, a shared space when it comes
to this barn, and then a separation pen
for the buck. -[Ashli] Perfect.
[Misty] OK, here we go.
Misty will build an 8-by-20-foot barn to house
and divide the goats.
First, she'll mill cedar trees from the property
for dimensional lumber, including the corner
posts and frame.
Once the structure is enclosed, she'll put in separate stalls
for the buck, does, and baby goats in order
to control breeding and prevent unnecessary loss of life.
[adventurous music playing]
[Misty] OK, first rock in. Better than a pallet?
Better than a pallet.
[Misty] First step, we're good.
And right now, we need to figure out
what this framing is.
But the good news is, I look around and I see
a ton of materials that we can use.
And the next step will be to start sourcing lumber.
All right, I'm gonna just kind of backfill a little bit,
and then we will set the next one.
Here we go.
[upbeat music playing]
The morning of day three on the Curry's homestead...
[Marty] Nice and clean.
Marty, Chris, and foreman Clint shift gears
momentarily from the water hunt to source lumber
for the livestock builds.
[Marty] Just a kiss!
That's it.
-[branches crumbling] -[thud]
[Marty] Thank you.
-[Ashli] Need another hand? -[Marty] Who is this?
-This is my father, Rick. -Oh, nice to meet you.
So you come here to work, or you're just stopping by,
passing through? What's happening?
Well, I come here to work.
This homestead would not be possible without my dad.
He helped us build our small home, and he started building
his cabin on the homestead.
But if there is not a source of water, there is no way
he could stay here forever. -[Rick] I can do anything.
-You can do anything? -Anything.
[Marty] We're doing a little bit of logging.
We guys want to stake these logs out.
-You interested? -I'm ready to hit it.
-[Marty] Let's go. -[Rick] All right.
[Marty] Thank you.
[Matt] OK, that's two.
We're gonna start speeding up.
Later that day, Matt, Baylan, and Malakai salvage
materials from the homestead to fortify the quail coop.
The salvage is going really good.
The boys are working fast, and we're definitely finding
enough materials for the roof rafters.
And every screw that we've taken out, we're going
to use again.
And so, I mean, heck, we've got a box of screws here that's
worth 20 bucks.
and we pretty much have all the fasteners we need,
all the framing we need.
So we're gonna have a roof on this thing
before the sun goes down.
We're just gonna butt this up just like so.
Screw it to one of our scrap pieces.
[Baylan] Matt is teaching us about building scabs
for the wood to expend it, for the roof to have
proper shelter for the quail.
[Matt] Let it rip and then bring it up to the wood.
[Malakai] Let it rip!
[Baylan] One day, I hope to build like, my own little place
on the homestead.
So, I think it's cool that we get to learn more stuff
to be able to help any way we can around on the homestead.
That's good.
Malakai and Baylan are really good to work with
because they already do their chores.
OK, don't drop it.
[Malakai] We're not.
They just need a little direction on where to put
their time and efforts in because those skills are just
little building blocks, that build into greater
confidence to help the homestead.
All right, now that we've raised this wall up
5 1/2 inches, let's get the rafters on here and let's put
a proper roof on this thing.
We're pretty excited.
This new roof is gonna block the quail from the wind
and the rain.
I think we're gonna have no more quail deaths.
[Matt] All right, let's keep working.
[intrepid music playing]
Back uphill...
[Marty] Look out. We're gonna go for it.
...Marty's water search pushes on,
as he breaks ground near the sycamore trees
Chris suspects are a sign of an ample water source.
[Marty] I'm looking for a water source close to the house.
I've spent more of my time than I expected,
but I'll never sleep well at night if I don't try.
What we're trying to do right now is follow up
on your sycamore theory.
There's a sycamore. There's a sycamore.
We're digging right between them.
We'll give it a little bit more.
[Chris] We dug probably deeper than we dug the first time,
and so far we found a bunch of clay
that wasn't very promising.
But hopefully we can find a large quantity of water so
we can actually survive and keep going
on the homestead.
[Marty] Look around this edge.
Is anything seeping in anywhere?
-What do you see? -[Chris] Looks pretty dry.
All right.
This is the second hole I've dug.
It's not promising.
[Marty] There's nothing in there, no water.
And I haven't even begun to figure out a way to fix
their pallet foundation.
[indistinct holler]
At this point, we will need a miracle.
[Marty] OK. Now it's raining.
Not my favorite conditions to find water.
After striking out twice in their hunt for a dependable
water source, Chris leads Marty on the far edge
of the homestead for what might be their final hope.
I'm looking for a spring that's so deep, that's running
on top of the bedrock, that I can convince myself
that it's not surface rainwater.
[Chris] So these logging roads were already here.
-[Marty] Oh, nice. -[Chris] They must have just
timbered it a couple years before we got here.
This was just forest floor this time last year.
-[Marty] Oh, wow! -[Chris] It's really flowing there.
[Marty] I mean, look at this. What's going on here?
Where's that volume coming from right there?
I think that's coming out of the road.
[Chris] It looks like it, yeah, because it's kind of trailing.
[Marty] Looks like there's more -- OK.
[Marty whistles]
Hey!
Look at this road.
Where's all this water coming from?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that looks like a spring.
[Chris] It does.
When it dries up, we're not sure.
I mean, if you go deep enough,
that could be still there, but... -If we could find water
right here, is that better than what you have now?
[Chris] For sure.
[Marty] Look at this. Look at it bubbling.
So this is where you find springs, on the side of a bank,
on the side of a mountain,
on a bench where the water... settles.
I think it's just shouting at us to investigate, so let's
do that. -[Chris] Let's do it.
[suspenseful music playing]
[machine beeping]
[Chris] It's coming up right here.
I didn't realize that rock was so big it's in the road,
so it's got to go.
That thing looks a little wet.
That looks like a lot of freaking water.
That is a lot of water. It's gushing in.
I mean, a five gallon bucket would be overflowing right now.
[Marty] Well, that's a really good sign.
We're gonna keep digging.
All right, let's go down, bud.
If we dig a big hole, maybe it'll fill in.
And if it does, we might create yet another homestead miracle.
[upbeat country music playing]
[Misty] Man, are we glad to see you.
Over in the new livestock grounds, Misty brings in help
to get the goat barn started.
Misty. How's it going?
-Dave Burns. -Dave burns.
Nice to meet you.
This build is all about using materials on hand.
So we called in this guy who has a mill.
And I see an opportunity to teach Ashli how to mill
the trees on their property.
We actually have a bunch of trees already bucked up
and ready to mill. -We're ready.
OK, I'm gonna grab you some logs.
Have you ever worked on a mill before?
No. This is awesome.
OK, is there any hydraulics? This is just manpower.
-[Dave] This is full manual. -Yeah, full manual!
It's what separates the women from the men.
[all laugh]
OK, I'm gonna grab the first log and come right back.
All right, let's make some sawdust.
[Ashli] Misty and I are working on a barn to keep
all of the goats in but separated at the same time
so we won't have unplanned kidding in the middle of winter.
[Dave] Yeah!
we've had 10 kids die this winter because they were born
in the middle of the night.
So the thought of that never happening again is
so encouraging.
[Dave] All right, we're gonna make a pass, so I'm about to engage.
-I'll walk you through it. -[Ashli] OK.
[Dave] When I pull this lever down,
that drive belt right there is gonna engage. -[Ashli] OK.
[Misty] The moment you show Ashli how to use a skill saw,
a drill, how to frame a wall. She does it to perfection.
[Dave] Perfect.
She's becoming a part of the solution,
and we're changing this homestead together.
It's awesome.
That felt like the first step to really being
self-sustainable was taking resources from our property
and turning them into something usable for a need that we have.
So exciting. Thank you so much for coming.
Yeah. You're welcome.
[Misty] It's only getting colder this week.
Now there's a full-blown blizzard on the way
to the homestead. So for me, there is no plan B.
This is all we have.
Every single second is a make-it or break-it moment
when it comes to this livestock. And that is pretty alarming.
I think the buck does not get the whole space.
No.
It'd be great to have a spot to have the mom
and the babies together. -[Misty] Yeah.
-Separated from everybody else. -[Misty] Yes, I agree.
[upbeat country music playing]
[Misty] Looks good! I'm moving in!
Whoo, whoo, whoo!
OK, boys, I still am gonna stand by the fact that I don't
want any of these quail to be on the ground, at least
during the winter. See where this chicken is?
[Malakai] Mm-hmm.
[Matt] This area is going to be basically like a little
bird cage where those quail will live.
I think it could work pretty well.
Yeah.
[upbeat music playing]
[Malakai] Hiya! Hiya!
[Matt] When it comes to livestock, bigger is not always better.
And so right now, the boys and I, we're building
a coop within a coop.
This right here will be our insulation that we use.
21 inches, boys.
Not every type of livestock bird needs
a big old coop.
These are very small quail,
and this is all the space we need.
And if it's dry out here and it gets warmer, you know,
you can give them more space.
But right now, it's too cold, and they need
to be locked in there.
They're gonna be warm, and they're gonna survive.
-[Baylan] There we go. -[Matt] Looking good.
OK. Are you ready to wrangle?
[Malakai and Baylan] Yeah.
[Matt] We got 16 quail to catch.
[upbeat music playing]
[Marty] OK.
Moment of truth.
Let's see how this spring's doing.
Oh, my god.
Ten feet deep on this side.
About six feet deep on this side.
It's 20 feet long. It's six feet across.
Yeah, OK.
That's a game changer.
Or, as we say on these homesteads,
that's a life changer.
I wasn't quite sure it was gonna happen.
Misty or Matt, you guys got a radio near?
Go for Matt.
Did you find Christopher, Ashli, the boys, and all
of you guys head down here. -OK, copy.
Me and Ashli are coming down now.
This is kind of an emergency, so don't dilly dally, OK?
[Matt] OK, we're on our way.
[Matt] We're going down the driveway.
[Malakai] No dilly dally.
[Misty] I see my dad.
[Marty] All right, come on over here, fam.
Check it out.
-Whoa. -Oh, my gosh.
-Oh, my goodness. -Whoa.
-[Chris] Oh, my gosh. -[Marty] I've already measured this.
There's over 5,000 gallons of water.
5,000?
[Matt] Wow.
I've never seen this reaction on a homestead.
-It's like laugh-crying. -[Ashli] Yeah.
[Ashli laughs]
Wow.
Everywhere we turn, God provides another miracle.
Well, this is a miracle on a homestead without water
for how many years? Four years?
-Yeah. -Four years.
[Ashli] Water is life.
It's life for us. It's life for our animals.
It's the time saved that we're not having to haul this.
It's the security of knowing if we're stuck here for two weeks
in the snow or ice,
that we're not gonna be without water.
I mean, Marty, this changes everything.
What about you, young man, Malakai?
It takes a lot of stress off my mom and dad, and I'm very
happy to see this.
I'm so happy. Let's leave.
-All right. -Let's leave you guys.
OK, guys.
[Ashli] This is 100% life changing.
[Chris] This changes everything.
Sometimes, it's worth having years of hardship to really,
really appreciate something that so many people take
for granted, like water. -This makes us sustainable.
Yeah.
This is so much bigger...
[whimpers]
...than we ever hoped for. I had no idea.
-He made me keep it a secret. -You knew?
You knew?
It wasn't filled like this, though.
-It was just trickling in. -[Ashli] Oh, my gosh.
I could have never kept this a secret.
[Baylan] This is amazing.
The governor of Arkansas has declared a state of emergency.
Word on the street that this is gonna get worse.
[Misty] Everybody is just kind of scattering.
It's really starting to come down.
We're out of here.
[suspenseful music playing]
[wind whistling]
[Misty] It is really, really cold this morning.
It's day four on the rescue of the Curry's homestead,
where freezing temperatures remain a concern.
As you can see, it snowed some last night.
The weather is not supposed to be good for the rest
of the week, so we're just really praying that we can get
through some of these projects.
And this morning, Misty checks on the goats to see how they've
fared in the cold snap.
Thank goodness we were able to keep the baby goats warm enough
with the heat, but that's just a makeshift daytime solution.
It's too cold today for the babies to be outside.
The temperatures have dipped,
so the babies gotta be moved inside.
OK, here we go.
So now they're inside the house, 24 hours a day,
and we gotta get this barn done quick.
So right now, I need a bunch of lumber.
The mill's not running. That's not a good sign.
[Dave] No.
Yesterday, it rained on us all day while we were milling.
Oh, man!
But I think a lot of the water that was on the equipment froze
last night, and the whole machine has just froze up.
The cable systems froze, drip tank, water lines,
everything's froze.
Well, that's not good.
No.
I think if we got a space heater and dropped a tarp over
this and fired it up where we could hold that heat inside
of there, I think we could probably thaw these parts out.
-OK, it's worth a try. -Yep.
I'll grab a space heater, you grab a tarp, and we'll be
right back. -Sounds good.
-[Misty] Here we go. -[Ashli] Thanks, Dave.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Misty] I'm a little bit frustrated.
Right now the mill's not milling one board,
so it's a rough start to the morning,
but hopefully we're gonna thaw
some things out and get back to work.
Hopefully it doesn't take too long to thaw out,
and we'll check on you in a little bit.
-[Dave] OK. -[Misty] OK?
Whoo! It's gonna be a day, folks.
It's gonna be a day.
[upbeat country music playing]
All right, that's music to my ears.
[water babbling]
A spring producing so much water, you can hear it.
Now, the next challenge is how do you get this water from here
all the way up to that homestead?
We got some sun.
You can just set it down there, big guy.
[Chris] That is a huge culvert.
One system that we use on homesteads is a culvert.
Three things are gonna happen.
We're going to take the culvert to the spring.
We stick it down into the ground.
And then we'll use gravel and fill around that culvert
up to the water table, giving the water,
giving the spring a place to travel, to move,
and make its way inside the well casing.
[whistles]
Watch out.
Then dig a trench and put in a water line.
Do me a favor.
See if you can start rolling it down.
Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.
Just this morning, I was thinking that this is not going
to be possible, but it looks like we're actually gonna
have water straight to the house and not have to
transport water ever again is what we're hoping.
The last couple of years, I felt powerless in a way
because I would like to get my parents on this homestead.
About six years ago now, my dad had a severe stroke.
That provides a lot of challenges for my mother.
She needs a lot of help right now.
And it's been really important for Ashli and I to try to make
this a place where they can move, and then we can provide
help for them.
And I wasn't exactly sure if we'd be able to accomplish
our goal of having a multi-generational homestead
because of the water situation.
So right now, I feel a lot more positive on how the future's
gonna be on this homestead.
[upbeat music playing]
[Misty] All right. Whoo-hoo!
The mill's up and running right now, so...
The buck has his little zone, and then we really went all in
on with this wall.
Hopefully he can't bust through it.
He has shown how strong he is.
[Misty laughs]
We've got lots of work to do, and we're one step closer
to keeping these babies warm and out of our house.
In the world of stalls,
ideally, it would be this whole back row. -[Ashli] Yeah.
[Misty] Eight feet that way.
I'm gonna grab some two by fours.
[Ashli] Now we are going to set up three kidding stalls,
and I'm just praying that we're gonna
finish some stuff today.
[Misty] OK!
Whoo-hoo!
[upbeat country music playing]
[Marty] Hang on.
We've got to listen to the forecast.
[reporter] We have winter weather alerts in effect for North Arkansas,
and right now we're dealing with freezing rain and snow
in Downtown Little Rock.
Arctic air is moving in from north and northwest.
All right.
[suspenseful music playing, fades]
I never thought in a million years it would be this cold.
Halfway through the rescue, an imposing weather report
forces the Raneys and Currys to game plan next steps.
People are saying the words "polar vortex."
[Ashli laughs]
-What does that even mean? -I don't know.
A polar vortex is a massive rotating band of winds
that circles the poles.
When arctic air unexpectedly surges south into the states,
it can bring dangerous conditions, not just
for the unprepared, but also for weak wooden structures,
which risk collapse under the strain of rapidly
shifting elements.
We haven't even talked about this house.
Yes, it was built on pallets.
We're not gonna sit here and criticize it
or be judgmental. But if this house was in town,
they would condemn it.
As this cold temperature has descended down upon Arkansas,
I can see there's another problem on this homestead
as life-impacting as no water.
The real problem right now
on this homestead is unsafe shelter.
In spite of an impending polar event, I want to put some type
of solid foundation that is gonna be safer than
that building on pallets -- a footprint for a new cabin
that could withstand any storm Arkansas wants to throw at it.
Tonight, you probably could get by just fine, but how does this
house fare during cold snaps?
As long as we have firewood, we've never been cold.
-Do you have firewood? -Yeah.
-We got to work on some today. -[Marty] OK.
Let's be honest about this.
If there's a one-day, two-day, three-day storm, I'm just
reminding everybody to, you know, let's take care
of animals and each other.
And for now, we'll get back to work.
Our house is by no means safe in a storm.
One wall is almost completely glass windows.
The foundation is on pallets.
And so literally, when sirens have gone off, all I've been
able to do is just sit on the bed in the middle
of the night and pray that God protects us.
And now that bad weather is coming in, everything is really
overwhelming right now. There's just a lot to consider.
-[suspenseful music playing] -[wind howling]
[Misty] Oh, my gosh.
As temperatures continue to fall
and the weather worsens...
-[phone alert dings] -[Marty] State of emergency. Let's go.
Misty and Matt, get over here, please!
[whistles]
Family!
...the rescue hits a crisis point.
The governor of Arkansas has declared a state of emergency,
mainly for the highways
and transportation and moving people around.
All of our team has to leave. That's protocol.
So we don't really know what's gonna happen.
The word on the street that this is gonna get
worse and worse.
[Chris] We were praying for the best outcome for the weather,
and the morning started really well, and now it seems to be
coming down at the moment.
So we got to think about the safety of
everybody out here.
I feel like we just try to get as much work as we possibly can
until we got to get out of here
because we don't want to be stranded here.
Let's move these animals under proper shelter.
Let's get them in the new barn so they don't freeze to death.
-Sound good? -All right.
-I'm gonna grab a heater. -[Marty] Thank you.
I'm grabbing some of those heaters for those babies.
We're gonna...
Are you filming anything with the goats?
Are you guys done? Are you out of here?
-[Misty] So... -[Ashli] Yeah.
[Misty] Everybody is just kind of scattering, so our production
crew doesn't get stranded.
It's really starting to come down.
We're gonna focus on these animals.
[goat crying]
OK, we're moving the kids into the new barn.
-[crying, bleating] -[suspenseful music playing]
[Misty speaking]
We moved all the kids inside with the mamas.
But we gotta go. It's like no time to waste.
We're out of here.
[wind howling]
[Chris] Good morning.
This weather is definitely slowing us up.
It's another cold one today.
A little bit colder than the last day.
The roads into our homestead are still pretty covered.
I'm not exactly sure when the Raneys are coming back.
I can't really complain. A lot has happened.
We're gonna see how the rest of the time goes, if we're
actually gonna be able to finish or what's happening.
[rugged music playing]
[Marty] Clint! [whistles]
Fire it up!
With a day's worth of work lost to the storm...
[Matt] OK.
[Misty] Ah-yoo!
...mid-afternoon temperatures warmed just enough
to resume work.
But now, with 36 hours remaining in the rescue
and critical projects yet to be completed...
Have you given any thought to a place you might build
your home on this 40-acre piece of land?
I've got a few thoughts.
...Marty, Chris, Ashli scramble
to identify the location for a new, sturdier cabin.
One's right over here.
[Marty] We've pointed out that their cabin doesn't have
the best foundation, and that we would help them
build a foundation that would be solid, it would be
permanent, to withstand the extreme weather.
[Chris] We're trying to stay conscious of how far the water
and electricity run.
[Marty] On this homestead, we started out looking
for water, and we'd we didn't know that the weather would
completely shut down on us.
Do you have a tape on you?
OK. What would be wrong...
with...
There's 16 right there.
I've been on many a homestead where the cabin was 16 by 16.
Or...what do you say we try to push it to something
like 16 by 40? -[Ashli] Wow.
This would open up a lot of possibilities.
There's just something bout this already existing area
that's staring me in the face.
To provide a head start on a future cabin, Marty plans
to leave the Currys with a finished foundation.
First, he'll grade a 16-by-40-foot footprint,
making sure to stay close to the planned water line.
Next, he'll stack cinder blocks in all corners and load bearing
points, creating a solid framework for a future home
the Currys can complete.
We could use a septic. We still have the view.
It's already flat. It's compacted.
That's all good when you're talking about a foundation.
However, I feel like we're gonna let you down a little
bit because of the weather setback and such.
-You haven't let us down. -Well...
Even if nothing happened from this moment forward,
you have put us years ahead.
[Marty] We're gonna get as much done as we possibly can.
The last 36 hours kind of put a real damper on our timeline.
Our biggest concern is how long it's gonna take for us
to frame up the foundation itself, but we're ready to work,
and I've got the faith that either way of where it's left,
we're gonna figure something out.
This is your new foundation.
We promised them a better future, but I'm not sure what
we're gonna leave them with.
[Ashli] One more miracle?
[guitar music playing]
[Matt] So, check this out.
Now that we've rescued all the bird livestock,
we're gonna help Misty out.
We're gonna help your mom out.
And we are gonna build a greenhouse.
Excited.
I want to be able to have our own produce and be able
to live off the land, you know, next step.
I'm happy that we are gonna have some food and be able
to sustain ourselves that way.
I've wanted a greenhouse since we got here and be able to grow
food, make dinner for our family.
And that's been one of our goals, so I think
it'll be definitely really cool to have that here.
Matt will take over Misty's build to construct
his first-ever greenhouse.
First, he'll measure a 10-by-12 footprint, south-facing
for optimal sun exposure.
Next, he'll use milled cedar from the property for the posts
and frame before enclosing it with clear roofing and side
panels to ensure sun warmth.
Finally, he'll add raised beds using donated topsoil
and produce to provide food security for years to come.
With the quail coop, we started from the roof down,
but now that we're building the structure...
from scratch, we're starting from the ground up,
and we're going to square it up right.
I've been working alongside with Malakai and Baylan,
and it's been a lot of work.
Start with you.
Right there. I just, right there.
Just pound one in.
Perfect.
But they're also vested into this lifestyle, and that's what
this homestead needs.
You got these young men that are getting close to becoming
adults, and they have dreams, they have goals, and getting
to know them really shows me
just how much they care about this homestead.
OK, just kind of eyeball, put that stick right there.
That's good.
All right, hammer, hammer, hammer.
It's snowing outside, but I'm excited to get working
with Matt on the greenhouse.
The weather doesn't discourage me.
Let's talk about getting some the building materials right
off of your property, all right?
-[Malakai] All right. -[Matt] Follow me.
[Malakai] Where's the chainsaw?
[upbeat music playing]
OK, a couple inches of snow on the ground.
Let's see how the babies are doing.
Over in the new barn...
[Misty] Hi, guys! [laughs]
...Misty checks on the goats to see how they weathered
the storm in the new structure.
[Misty] Those little guys in the back are so pumped.
They're just warm. They're alive.
They're tucked in.
We kind of built this pen within a pen.
We got the heat lamp on the four-day-old kids,
and we just went with what we had,
but we weathered the storm.
Everybody's fine, and now it's time,
once and for all, to finish this build.
-[Ashli] Hello. -[Misty] Yoo!
Come on in.
So, a few things have changed in here.
We created this little milking station that you can fold down.
It's good to hear that Malakai and Baylan have such an active
role in the homestead with the livestock and hearing
things like milking these goats out in the rain, in the mud,
they're managing livestock in less-than-ideal situations
and just changing that and setting them up so
their day-to-day is that much easier
is my ultimate goal here.
What I like about it is you just grab your little
stool, you milk your goat, and we got you a little
present, that amazing simple pulse, two goats at a time
milker that is gonna take you to the next level.
[Ashli] That's incredible.
To have a dry, clean space and do two at a time,
it's remarkable, Misty.
Thank goodness we had gotten the barn finished enough to be
able to bring the mamas and the babies in.
And having a separate, safe, warm place for them
to go, that is just a dream come true in itself.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Marty] Ready?
Only 12 hours remain to rescue the Curry family's
40-acre homestead.
[Marty] Quick, quick, quick!
And while the crew installs the culvert to be used as
a well casing,
on the other side of the property, freshly cut cedar
trees are being milled.
[Matt] OK, you ready to pull? Lift it.
Grab on to that thing. Lift.
Which Matt and the kids will use to build
the new greenhouse.
[Matt] So, this is the difference between level and plumb.
Level has to do with anything that's horizontal.
Plumb has to do with vertical.
So that right there, that would be plumb.
I'm a little nervous.
We're kind of stepping on Misty's turf,
building the greenhouse without her.
But Misty's all in on the goat barn.
But we're leaving this homestead at the end
of the day, and we have to build the entire greenhouse,
but we also need to get a viable source of water
up and running.
And so, hopefully, we're gonna do Misty's
greenhouse justice.
OK, this one floats. So, I'm gonna hold it up.
We should be able to get this greenhouse up and running for
the warmer months.
Being able to grow our own food is definitely a blessing.
It'll be like, as soon as you walk in, all the walls will
be surrounded by garden boxes.
[Matt] Nice.
A greenhouse doesn't work without topsoil,
and we're lucky to have this generous donation.
Even in colder weather, topsoil can add nutrients
to plants, prevent erosion, and add proper drainage.
So, what we're doing today will ensure a healthier garden
down the road.
This is gonna work really well.
Whoo!
[Marty] OK, the plot thickens.
We got a 600-foot water line all the way
to the spring buried.
Of course, it's got five inches of snow on it, but where are
we taking this water to?
It doesn't feel right to run it straight to that building
built on pallets.
Good thing we have a plan.
[whistles]
We're going to take a 1,000-gallon
brand-new water tank...
[Ashli] That's a real big tank, babe.
-Very big tank. -[Ashli] That's a big tank.
[Marty] We'll keep digging the trench close to the house.
Chris, other side will push. Ready?
Easy now, precious cargo.
Eventually, they'll hook that water line into the tank,
with potential to introduce that water into maybe a new
cabin or house in the future.
OK.
[Chris] Not having to haul water and spend countless hours
throughout the week and plan our life around having to leave
the property, wait for it to fill up, come back,
wonder if the roads are gonna be safe.
I mean, it's just life-changing.
[upbeat music playing]
[Malakai] What's up, dude? Ooh!
[gasps]
-[Matt] OK, guys. -[Malakai] Wow.
[Matt] We got some plants.
The craziest thing in the world is building a greenhouse during
a winter storm. And that's exactly what we did.
Let's get this broccoli. Here, bring that in.
Right now, it's 10 degrees outside.
Nothing's gonna survive, but we have topsoil
in our raised beds.
I think a little demonstration about how we could plant stuff
in the greenhouse is very important for when they do
actually plant these plants in the future, which is gonna be
when it's warm enough.
The thing I know about broccoli is it might look small
right now, but it's gonna get real big.
So the spacing on this plant is crucial.
[Malakai] We're pretty excited.
Yeah, now that we have water, we'll actually be able to have
a greenhouse, and it'll really change everything around here.
We're gonna have plants every 18 inches.
One will go here, one will go here, one will go here.
[Baylan] The Raneys helped my family a lot with the homestead.
I'm just very, very grateful that they've been able to come
here and help us in all the ways that they have.
It changed our lives for the better.
It's up to you boys to plant these plants in here, OK?
And I know you're gonna do it.
And so I say we move all these plants inside
and then check the coops.
-[Baylan] All right. -[Malakai] Let's go.
[Matt] I don't know about you, but these quails seem
real happy. -[Baylan] Definitely.
We've given all the birds the best chance of survival
from the cold, from the rain, from the snow.
I'm glad we were able to do all your livestock birds justice
and give them a really nice space.
Seven days ago, the Curry homestead had nothing
but a barren plot of land for a future garden and a decrepit
quail coop, exposing the animals to deadly
weather conditions.
Today, their quail coop has been rehabilitated
with a brand-new roof and upcycled nesting boxes,
ensuring their birds will thrive in any weather.
And they have a brand-new 10-by-12-foot greenhouse built
from milled cedar trees, enabling them to grow food
for years to come.
[Malakai] I'm so thankful that Matt came here and helped us.
A lot of stress has been taken off our parents.
Congratulations on happy and safe livestock,
and hopefully this made your guys' livestock journey
from here on a lot easier.
[upbeat music playing]
[Misty] This is a family affair right now.
Later that day, by the new goat barn...
How do we wrangle the buck?
Misty enlists the Curry's help to wrangle and separate Freddie
the Buck from the rest of the does.
My idea is to open up our electric fence over there
and lead him through with food.
OK, we got the leash, we got the feed,
we got the goat experts right here.
I'll follow you guys. We're going this way?
-Yep. -[Misty] Here we go.
Do you see him?
Right now, we're gathering all the goats,
we're moving them in the barn, but they have to be separated
so the buck has to move today.
-[Chris] Come on, Freddie. -[Malakai] Here, Freddie.
And we have to put an end to this breeding program
because clearly having kids in the dead of wintertime
is not great.
-[Chris] Keep coming. -[Misty] Shake your bucket.
[Ashli] It's OK if any does follow because they'll be easier
to get out. -[Chris] Keep coming, take it.
Shake it! Come on.
-Go, go, go. -[Misty] It's OK, it's OK.
-Just chase him. -[Malakai] Stop going for the girls.
Freddie!
[Misty] Freddie, the troublemaker, he's relentless.
But this is just a little bit harder than I thought it'd be.
-[Malakai] Stand wide. -[Misty] Here, give him the feed.
Give him the feed.
The chaos of the buck stops here.
[baaing]
[bleating]
-[Misty] Freddie's gotta go. -[Malakai] Come on, buddy.
-Come on. -[Chris] Good job.
[Misty] Keep going, Baylan. Out in front, bud.
-Out in front. -[Baylan] Go ahead.
[Misty] Yeah! Yoo-hoo!
[Malakai] We got him.
OK, guys, I've turned the fence on.
Don't touch the wire.
It's official.
The buck is no longer with the does.
You guys have a controlled breeding program,
just with the separation, and that's super exciting.
So, yay, good job, everybody.
Yoo-hoo!
-All right, should we go inside? -[Ashli] Yeah.
[Misty] You had a lot of needs when it came to the goats, but I feel
like we tackled it all with one structure.
Yeah, we'll just be figuring out a space that's dry to put
a big old bale of hay and we'll be set.
[Misty] Yeah.
This dream that we had really felt like it was starting
to crash and burn, but the Raneys made us realize
how miracles happen whenever our family has really come together
to work hard and see what this day can give us.
Now we've gotten so much accomplished, and we've opened
up so many possibilities for us to thrive.
And I'm just so thankful and excited to see what this
next year holds for us.
One week ago, the Currys had no way to properly separate
the goats, causing excessive breeding and rampant loss
of life during cold temperatures.
Today, they have a brand-new goat barn built from cedar
trees milled on the property.
Individual stalls to separate the buck from the does,
electric heaters, and a new milking station, all enclosed
within a new electric fence line, allowing the goats
to thrive in the winter months.
When it comes to buttoning up a few things or dialing this
to your needs and how you farm and how you raise livestock,
I'm gonna leave you to it because I'm pretty impressed
with how quickly you learn, and you're gonna be fine.
-You got it. -Thank you.
You're welcome.
[Marty] Look a little different over here?
[Chris] A whole lot different.
[Marty] Unfortunately, we're leaving.
And even though this polar vortex did slow the work down,
I will say this, we did our best.
I think you're right.
So right now, if you look down there.
[Chris] Oh, there's definitely water down there.
[Marty] OK.
So this is a 36-inch culvert, and this culvert will hold over
50 gallons per foot.
So right now, this second, if you need 400 gallons
of water, it's right there ready to be pumped.
I mean, this is gonna be -- it's a life changer.
Well, on that note, we got to see if this water is actually
gonna work before I drive out of here.
-Follow me. -Let's do it.
[Marty] Come on, come on.
-Let's turn it on. -[Chris] I can hear it.
[Marty] Really?
OK. Here you go.
[Chris] Oh, yeah.
[Marty] Water is life.
It is to these homesteaders after hauling it
for four years.
And 5,000 gallons a day should breathe new life into this
homestead dream.
Seven days ago, the Currys relied on rain
and hauling water from town as their permanent sources
of water, contained within unsanitary,
algae-filled storage.
Today, they have a developed spring, complete with a culvert
well casing and enough water to run into any structure
on the property, giving them and all future family residents
enough potable water for years to come.
[Marty] As you can see, you got all the water in the world.
For now, that's what you're looking at.
-Looks pretty good to me. -Yeah, looks pretty good.
The Raneys coming out has really inspired me and made me
think about family and homesteading differently.
You know, the fear still comes up, but I feel motivated
to face those fears.
And soon here in the future, we are gonna be growing as
a family and as homesteaders.
Did your wife say the number one issue here was water?
Yeah.
Do you think we've maybe solved the problem?
-Mission accomplished. -[Marty] OK.
If that's true, I'll go shut it off, and I'll meet
you at the truck. -Sounds good.
We showed up here in Arkansas about a week ago, 35,
40 degrees. Perfect.
But that ended.
Temperatures of below zero, nearly shut this
homestead down, but we persevered, and I want
to believe that we actually helped these homesteaders when
it comes to finding water and to growing food
in the future, but I think we failed them when it comes
to shelter.
It's not a good feeling.
All right, fam,
I'm standing on Miracle Mountain,
and thank goodness there's water
about 600 feet that way, and I think all
the water you're ever gonna need.
[Misty] Right now, it's warm in the barn.
And as far as the goats are concerned, food, shelter,
water is there.
And now, after this week, you're set up.
I really underestimated Arkansas.
It never really fazed you, though.
You were just the whole time right there,
ready to work, happy.
The week was pretty fun, but intense.
It was definitely very fun being able to build with Matt,
being able to take care of the quail
and build a greenhouse.
I'm very excited about it, being able to grow my own food.
It was a good week.
The weather could have been better, but you have just made
it easier for the future.
So we really appreciate everything you've done for us.
Well, thanks for working alongside of us.
But I feel like we let you down a little bit.
Weather would not allow us to do the things that we promised.
There's a big pile of concrete block there to put in
a foundation for a home. Sorry.
It's not good enough for me.
We are scheduled to go to another homestead.
They're waiting on us right now.
So we'll see what we can do, but no promises.
Here's the cold, hard facts. It's over.
-We're leaving. -Be safe, guys.
[Marty] Could we ever break away from the homestead schedule and get
back here and finish what we said we were gonna do?
Guess what?
We're working on Miracle Mountain.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Marty] We are gonna build a concrete block foundation.
But how can we do that in one day?
-I have no idea. -That's how.
[Chris] Oh, my gosh.
[Baylan] Can't dribble on this ground.
[Ashli] Better make it.
Hey!
[Marty] while I'm watching Baylan play basketball on this muddy ground
and shoot hoops at a broken basketball backboard,
I'm wondering if there's anything we can do to help
that young man.
Family!
After seeing how important basketball is to this family...
We're building a basketball court.
-Thank you. -[Matt] You're welcome.
All right, right here! Let's go!
Homesteading isn't just about hard work.
We need mud! Shovel, shovel!
Every once in a while, you gotta do something fun,
because embracing this lifestyle means nothing if
homesteaders limit their dreams.
Look at that thing of beauty.
Now, these boys and their love for basketball can fly
on this homestead.
Hope your family enjoys that.
[Chris] Thank you.
[Chris] Hello, hello again.
So, since the Raneys have left, the weather's definitely
been a lot better. We've definitely been busy.
Overall, it's been really exciting.
The well hasn't run out at all. It's just so much water.
It's been really nice not having to haul water and plan
our lives around that.
[Chris] The barn's been great. It's kept all the babies warm.
She's about to have her babies, Aurea.
And we had another...
that had triplets.
And then we've also got exciting things
with the greenhouse.
Everything is perking up in there.
[Ashli] So we have so many plants that Chris built this beautiful herb
box so we can transplant some of these herbs and have more
room for the veggies.
[Chris] Our homestead is the gift that keeps on giving.
There's always something for you to do.
[Ashli] And not knowing if the Raneys are coming back,
the anticipation is just killing me.
Having a reliable foundation to eventually build a new house,
still is on my mind. -We're hoping for the best.
And right now, we have the energy,
the confidence to keep going.
[triumphant music playing]
[rooster crows]
[honking]
[Malakai] Is that them?
-We're back. -[Ashli] Welcome back.
-Long time no see. -[Chris] Yeah.
A little bit better weather this time.
-[Misty] Oh, my gosh. -[Matt] Oh, my goodness.
Last time we were here, it was below zero.
Yeah. Good to see you.
[Misty] How's it going, guys?
Before we left, we lost valuable time to help
these homesteaders with proper shelter.
Now we're back here again
because we have unfinished business here.
Let's just cut right to the chase.
That's not enough block for a foundation, and so we have
the rest of the materials at the top of the hill.
We only have one day, so we probably should get
to work. -Yeah.
-[Misty] Let's go. -Let's do it.
I don't know how much in the course of just one day what
can get accomplished, but no matter what gets done,
it's gonna be amazing and improve our lives, so we're
gonna get as much done as we can.
[Marty] All right, so here's what I'm thinking.
We are gonna build a concrete block foundation, but I want
to take it to the next step.
What's the next step after you put a foundation in?
Framing?
Putting something on that foundation?
Yeah, but, I mean, how can we do that in one day?
I have no idea.
That's how.
[gasps]
-Oh, my gosh. -Oh, my gosh.
-[Misty] Yoo! -[Matt] Yee-hee!
[Matt] Whoo-hoo!
Oh, my gosh.
[Marty] These are friends of ours,
and now they're friends of yours.
Thank you doesn't say it. Thank you so much.
-[Ashli] We just got a house. -[Chris] Just got a new house.
It feels like a new beginning for the family.
[Ashli] It's so hard to process.
[Marty] After meeting you guys and hearing how you built
that home, we reached out to some friends of ours,
and we said, "Hey, how would you guys feel about helping us
"not only give these guys a solid foundation, but taking it
to the next step?" -Thank you for...
helping us have security now. We have an actual stable home.
Well, it's better quality than housing standards.
Is this thing gonna sit on pallets?
-Ah, heavens no. -No.
When they told us you had a pallet house, I was like,
"Oh, dear Jesus. We better get down there quick."
Should we figure out where it goes?
-Get the thing off the trailer? -[Malakai] Yeah.
OK.
Coming down, coming down.
That was amazing.
This beautiful family, they're competent,
they're hardworking, and they picked up where
we left off.
I think if there was ever a homesteading family
that deserved it, it's these guys.
Grab the saw, make sure we got gas and oil.
[Chris] One of the biggest challenges on this property is building
the foundation on pallets.
And you know, we've struggled out here.
And I was fearful to ask for help.
But being vulnerable, it kind of does
empty you out.
Let's get the house going!
[Chris] With this new house, we can continue to survive.
And we're one step closer for our multi-generational
homestead, it's right in our grasp.
[Ashli] Whoo!
[Misty] We made it!
[Marty] Let's put block under here and shim it.
-[Baylan] Do you need help? -[Malakai] Nah.
I got it.
The house means a lot to us.
It's definitely life changing that we have a good house
that's not on pallets.
[Baylan] I thought we were just gonna be putting down
some cinder blocks and building a foundation, or something.
So it's definitely amazing. And I'm ready to get to work.
[Chris] Oh, wow!
Guys, it's big.
[Marty] Welcome home.
The way we built our original home, there was a deadline
of when we would have to have something else.
And I really hope after the boys saw this gift today,
they never forget to dream big.
Now we can continue dreaming and can continue working hard
to make this homestead work.
We can't thank you guys enough.
Well, I think you deserve it, and we love you guys.
-[Chris] We love you guys, too. -[Matt] Group hug.
-Come on. -Group hug.
[Misty] Yeah, group hug!
These guys believe that things that have happened out here
for them have been miracles. And I don't blame them.
They didn't have hope for this homestead.
[Chris] You guys are always welcome.
[Ashli] All right. Love y'all.
-Thank you for having us. -[Chris] Thank you so much.
[Marty] Thank you!
Our mission was to get this family one step closer
to fulfilling this homestead dream.
[Chris] Thanks again!
[Marty] I'd say together we made this all happen through
hard work on Miracle Mountain.