All right, so this adobe structure is inside
that forest? -[Jacob] Correct.
[Marty] OK.
And what do you call these trees?
Trees of heaven.
[Marty] It doesn't look very heavenly. Look at this right here.
It turned and grew right onto the house.
What? These trees look like they have a mission.
-[Jacob] Yes. -[Marty] I mean, you have all this property,
and then they chose
to take over the house.
I've never seen this before.
I'm looking at a shelter that looks like a bomb went off.
[Matt] You've lost 50 pounds of food.
Oh, what, the grid failed them?
[Misty] There's a lot working against these homesteaders.
I don't know how much longer we'll be able to survive
like this. -[Marty] Back it up!
-[Misty] Dad! -[Matt] Watch out!
[Marty] Your dream to move into this adobe structure,
I'm not sure how realistic it is.
[Taylor] Succeeding with this homestead means everything to me.
[Misty] Yeah!
[Marty] Have you ever made an adobe brick?
-[Jacob] I have not. -[Marty] Neither have I.
We have challenge after challenge, but the question is,
can we save this homestead?
Well, Obi-Wan Adobe, you're our only hope.
What?
[theme music plays]
There it is, the Rio Grande.
It's the lifeblood of this valley right there.
We've never been to New Mexico ever.
First time.
[narrator] It's early winter, and the Raneys respond
to their first-ever rescue in the land of enchantment,
New Mexico, where a young couple struggles to claim
their homestead from Mother Nature.
In this wild and extreme region, scorching summer heat
and drought turns to winter ice and snow, and while fierce
winds off the southern reaches of the Rockies wreak havoc,
native tribes found prosperity in the rejuvenating waters
of the Rio Grande.
[Marty] This was one of the first parts of North America
that actually was self-sufficient.
The Pueblo people, indigenous to this part
of New Mexico, they figured it out.
Everything they needed to survive was grown right here
in this valley.
For centuries, the Pueblos have thrived here
and were among the first to utilize adobe
as their construction method, pioneering a unique
architecture that still blankets the Southwest.
But for novice settlers, without the knowledge
of traditional building and survival methods,
northern New Mexico can be
an unbearable and dangerous place to tame.
-I'm Taylor. -And I'm Jacob,
and we live together on this five-acre homestead
in northern New Mexico.
[Taylor] We moved to this property about three years ago.
It was everything we'd been looking for.
It had water, it had some preexisting buildings.
Our main goal is to regenerate the land, grow our own food,
be self-sustaining, and start a family.
[Jacob] But we didn't expect our dream of homesteading here to become
our life's greatest challenge.
Having a historic, existing adobe home gave them
hope they were two steps ahead to achieving their dream.
But then, reality hit.
[Taylor] The adobe structure is not livable.
It's been neglected for so long that it's covered in
these trees called tree of heaven.
They're extremely invasive where we live.
They grow like a mat of roots, so they're hooked underneath
the foundation of the house.
[Jacob] I've been chainsawing down trees relentlessly,
and they come back up like a Medusa.
[Tracy speaking]
[Jacob] If we aren't able to win the battle against these trees,
it is going to turn into
their homestead instead of mine.
The lack of suitable shelter is just the first of many
problems on the unforgiving homestead.
Due to the region's extreme climate, the couple also faces
challenges with their livestock and food production.
We have ducks, but the one thing that we have
been struggling with is getting them an appropriate pond.
We've tried some kiddie pools.
They disintegrate and break in the sun within a couple months.
[Jacob] And in the winter, they ice over.
[Taylor] Currently, we're not growing any food.
We tried, but have not had any success because
of the temperature changes here, and our greenhouse isn't able
to maintain any sort of semblance of warmth.
[Jacob] We want to be off-grid because we learned a hard lesson
with power outages.
I had harvested a few ducks and four geese,
but during the last power outage, the freezer wasn't
working, and so we lost about 50 pounds of meat, and that was
all of our food storage.
[Taylor] Succeeding with this homestead means everything to me.
I don't know how much longer we'll be able
to survive like this.
It feels like I'm never gonna be able to actually move us
into the house or figure any of this out.
-Marty, Misty, Matt... -We really need your help.
[Marty] OK, here they are, folks. Let's do it.
-Hello. -Hello.
-Hey. -Hi.
-Hi, guys. -[Marty] Wow.
-Jacob. -Jacob, nice to meet you.
-And? -Nice to meet you.
-Taylor. -Hi, I'm Robert.
-Tracy. -[Marty] Nice to meet you all.
This state is rugged.
-Also, it's colder than we thought it would be. -[Taylor] Yeah.
[Misty] Are you from here?
Yeah, we're both -- we're both born and raised here.
Here in this part of New Mexico?
-In Santa Fe. -About an hour away, yeah.
[Jacob] We moved here about three years ago.
-That little trailer there. -[Misty] That's your house?
You keep warm enough in that during the winter?
-No. -No.
-How hot does it get here? -It gets 100-plus.
-[Marty] 100-plus. -Summer.
Do you stay cool enough in that trailer?
-No. -No.
[Jacob] There is an adobe house right over there.
[Misty] Why don't you live in there?
We haven't been able to get it to a point where it's safe
to live in yet. And trash is a big issue.
This place was practically a junkyard
when we first came here. -Previous owners buried trash.
-[Marty] Oh gosh, OK. -Yeah.
How's the last three years been?
-Difficult and challenging. -Yeah.
We met through mutual friends.
They have a homestead in Northern California
and that was where we fell in love.
[Jacob] We were living on that property helping them out
and we just worked together so well that we never stopped.
[Taylor] And then we decided to move back here and look
for a place of our own.
Now we are engaged, and we wanna start
a family here.
I want to leave this place as my legacy.
[Taylor] It's very important to me to get the homestead functioning
before we can start a family.
We don't really feel confident in doing that yet.
[Jacob] I have no experience in homesteading like Taylor did.
[Taylor] I grew up on a 40-acre homestead
in northern New Mexico. We had a orchard.
We had chickens, ducks, goats.
[Jacob] I didn't know what I wanted to do
with my life. I was --
I feel like I was wandering a lot.
This place has really just given me that much purpose
that I really feel like I have the conviction that I will
spend the rest of my life here.
But now everything is stacking up, and I don't feel like
I have the knowledge and skill to do
a lot of the things that need to be done here.
[Marty] All right, so this is the structure?
-[Jacob] Yeah. -[Marty] And it looks like
you're already in the process
of trying to get rid of these trees?
[Jacob] Yeah.
[Marty] The homesteaders have chosen to live on five acres.
However, they live in a RV that reaches temperatures
of 90 and 100 degrees inside.
The question is, what's going on with this adobe house
that they want to resurrect?
All right, so this adobe structure is underneath these
modern-day framed additions covered in stucco?
-[Jacob] Correct. -[Marty] OK.
[Jacob] This back half here is the original adobe
and they put the last top addition on there,
I think in haste.
There's a giant hole in the roof that's coming through.
So that it's leaking and it's being contaminated
by the elements? -Yes, definitely.
-[Marty] In the one day that I've been here... -[Jacob] Uh-huh.
...you see a lot of adobe.
Why?
That was the way houses were built traditionally.
Adobe is one of the oldest building materials dating back
to the eighth century B.C.
Designed for warm, dry climates, it naturally
regulates heat and resists insects.
Made from sand, clay, water, and straw, adobe bricks
are shaped by hand and sun-dried,
a technique still used in traditional
and sustainable building today.
-[Marty] Is this on a concrete slab? -Yes and no.
-There's a hollow floor in that side. -[knocking]
I think this one's hollow, too.
[Marty] I'm looking at a tremendous amount of work.
I mean, it's a Frankenstein.
So why would you guys not just build a house on this property?
We were born and raised here in New Mexico, and we've always
wanted to raise a family out here one day.
And it's been our dream to live in a adobe house.
You know, I'm looking at all this.
I get it.
I mean, I'm more of a log cabin guy because I live in a place
where there's lots of trees.
Trust me, if I lived here, I'd be an adobe guy.
-Yeah. -But your dream
to move into this building, I think, is...
I'm not sure how realistic it is.
I'm a little concerned.
Jacob and Taylor, they've got a big dream, a big plan to get
out of that RV, but can we resurrect this
adobe structure? Because it is literally broken.
[Misty] How cold does it get during the night right now?
[Taylor] Uh, last night it was 17 degrees.
-[Misty] What? -[Taylor] So we have this greenhouse.
There's just cacti in it right now.
I tried these raised beds because the dirt here,
there's so much trash that we dig out that I'm not sure
how to grow in the ground.
[Misty] Yeah, as soon as I heard the previous owner was burying
trash, there could be some huge concerns health-wise. -Mm-hmm.
How many loads of garbage left do you think?
Probably endless.
I'll show you some of the worst of it later.
[Misty] Oh.
What is the acequia? What is that?
The acequia is an irrigation ditch.
So when the Spanish came out here, they dug trenches
that come off of the river. -Cool.
-Can you show me? -Yeah.
[Misty] I've never been to New Mexico before.
Kind of surprised by the climate.
We're at elevation.
Clearly things aren't thriving here when it comes to plants.
So there's some definite concerns as far as gardening goes.
Why does it look like it's dry?
[Taylor] So it's dry from November to April.
[Misty] Oh, they block it.
You have property on the other side?
-We have property on the other side that we could irrigate. -What?
So we're trying to go up here and over?
-[Taylor] Yeah. -[Misty] Oh, man.
[Taylor] So this is an apple tree that's a couple hundred years old.
-[Misty] You have food! -That is food, that's true.
That's the only food on the homestead.
That's the only food. I can't access it
when the water's going, though.
The acequia does cut through a chunk of our property
and there's an acre and a half on the other side of it
that we can't access as soon as the water gets turned on.
Acequias are essentially an inlet from the Rio Grande river
and the water goes past the farmland and then it exits
back into the river so that it's always replenishing
the water cycle.
-So, everything uphill from this ditch be dry? -Mm-hmm, yeah.
-Everything downhill has water? -Mm-hmm.
So this, to me, this is where you wanna be.
-[Taylor] Yeah. -[Misty] The problem is you can't get here.
Especially if there's water in that thing, you're not
getting here. That's a bummer.
I visited enough desert homesteads to realize you are
gonna have challenges when it comes to growing food.
But on this homestead, there's a lot
working against it.
You got access, extreme temperatures, and trash.
Growing food here, it's not gonna be that easy.
[Matt] I'd like to take a look at the ducks.
-[Tracy] OK. -[Matt] So this looks really quaint.
At first glance, when it comes to all the basics like food,
water, and shelter, these homesteaders have barely
scratched the surface.
And so I want to find out more about the livestock and food
that they have on this property.
-This part is a good start. -[Tracy] Yes.
Taylor, she struggles in the wintertime a lot
because in the summer, she puts out these kiddie pools.
But now in the wintertime, all she has are these feed buckets.
They wake her up in the morning to come break the ice.
-[Matt] Because they freeze. -[Tracy] Because they freeze.
-[Robert] Because it freezes. -[Matt] OK.
Then they had the problem with the freezer.
They had geese. Then they harvested the geese.
-[Matt] Yeah. -And they had 50 pounds,
and then we had the loss
of electricity for almost 24 hours.
50 pounds of food has been lost
because the grid went down. -Correct.
[Matt] These homesteaders have a very good start
raising ducks.
I'm confident that we can come up with a better solution
to their small tubs.
But I don't like to see homesteaders this reliant
on the grid, so we need to figure out food storage.
[Marty] All right, here in this part of New Mexico,
the Pueblos and others thrived
because they dug trenches like this.
They have the lifeblood acequia running through
their homestead property.
They should be able to make it out here.
-They just haven't really started homesteading yet. -Mm-hmm.
And just in the last week, they lost all of their stores of meat.
And it really goes to show you, just because you live
on the grid doesn't mean that freezer is always gonna work.
So I looked around and the promised land is
on the other side of the acequia.
There's grass growing.
The ground is like, rich and moist.
The problem is, is you can't get there.
This thing has water in it most of the year.
So I've no idea what the solution is, but I do know
that these guys need food.
And if you plant it in the ground, the ground might be
poisoned by the previous owner and burying all the trash.
So this is a difficult one for me.
I don't think we've ever faced anything as daunting
as that adobe structure.
Do we think like rational people
and tear down this structure?
Or do we attempt at fulfilling this less than normal dream
to try to save an 80-year-old adobe house?
Well, we meet again.
Here's what I've learned in the last few hours
on this homestead.
We've got several boxes to check.
Number one is shelter.
Listen, if we roll the dice on that thing, which we can't even
see, by the way, we could find mold.
We could find structural integrity is not there.
We're not gonna know any of these things until we start
demolishing, demolishing your home.
That's the first step.
I'm warning you, it could be a mistake.
Is this something you wanna do?
[blows air]
2 Do you really want to not pursue building a traditional
home without any surprises, or you guys wanna roll
the dice on that thing, which we can't even see,
by the way, from here?
Yes, if it's feasible, we want to save the house.
The adobe is much more efficient.
It'll be 98 degrees inside the trailer, and I will walk
over to the adobe house, and it will be 65 degrees
in there. Same for wintertime.
It's 10 to 20 degrees warmer, even without any supplemental
heat or anything.
The culture and history of adobe, I think
it's an important thing for me to carry forward.
[Robert] I think it's at least take a first step and get
the dilapidated second floor off and evaluate it.
-Are you in? -Absolutely.
So we are, we're gonna roll the dice and we might
possibly go all in.
I appreciate that adobe structures could still survive
that could still stand 80 years after they were built,
but can this one?
See you in the morning.
[dramatic music plays]
[Misty] Yoo-hoo!
[Marty] What's a good word?
We have to talk about some stuff.
Let's talk about bigger picture plans when it comes to this
garden and this greenhouse and this house.
I just want to, like, be really clear on what we're trying
to do before we move anything and do anything
with an excavator. -OK.
[Misty] When we show up on people's homesteads, we are constantly
trying to figure out what is the perfect solution for these
homesteaders on the fly.
And you don't know until you start these crazy problems
what the crazy solution's gonna be.
We were hoping to turn this room into a passive solar room.
When you say this room, what room?
This room on the front.
We have the glass panels for it.
[Marty] OK, here's the problem.
We can't even get to the house because of these trees, right?
I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but this huge
piece of equipment is about to remove all of these invasive
elm and trees of heaven.
I would rather you guys not build anything on
this structure while we're working on it.
We do want the greenhouse inside of the adobe house.
[Misty] We want what you guys want.
This isn't me saying no, and this isn't my dad
saying no. Why don't we do this, then?
Why don't we check back?
Yeah, because we really don't know...
-[Taylor] We don't know. -...until we
tear into it whether it's going to be viable
or not, so... -[Misty] Yeah.
OK.
So, some of these trees are big.
We're gonna take them all out.
-[Taylor] Mm-hmm. -Yeah.
That's step one. Let's get after it.
-OK. -[Marty] Thank you, guys.
To get the couple out of their unsafe RV
and into their adobe home
with proper insulation and facilities,
Marty will first clear brush and the invasive trees
that have engulfed the structure.
Next, he'll demolish the broken roof addition and clear out
decades of debris to determine if the home is truly
salvageable for permanent living quarters.
We've never laid eyes on, let alone have we ever
worked on an adobe structure.
And I'm not convinced we can save it, but we'll never know
'till we kick out the current occupants.
The trees of heaven that are not so heavenly.
Brought from China to New Mexico in the 1700s
as an ornamental tree, the tree of heaven quickly spread,
thriving in the region's poor soil and dry conditions.
But its beauty hides a destructive nature.
Its massive root system tunnels deep underground,
cracking foundations, lifting walls, and even forcing
its way through adobe structures.
[Marty] Here we go.
-[cracking] -[rustling]
All right.
Like it.
[Jacob] This is amazing.
I've been doing this at a lot slower of a pace
for three years, so watching this all happen at once is like
all the weight of the trees being lifted off my shoulders.
[Matt] OK, so here's the deal.
This fenced-in area is the only thing I've seen
that screams homestead to me, um,
on this whole property.
As soon as I saw this fenced-in area, I saw the beginning of
an actual homestead.
These homesteaders are not gonna live in this fenced-in area
forever, and the fact that we have a nice area where
there's some ducks but a lot of space means we can really up
our homesteading game and set them up for success.
Jacob and Taylor have had to think about things in
a small scale, but I'm thinking about the future,
and this fenced-in area, you could have goats in here.
You can have a lot of animals.
And so, I think we build a pond inside here.
This really is the perfect place to really step up
the homesteading game. -Mm-hmm.
-[Matt] And I think the pond will be a first start... -Yeah.
...to maybe snowball and get the homestead up to step. -[Tracy] Going, yeah.
Yeah, I think so, too.
To create a secure habitat that will keep eight ducks
ice-free in winter and cool in the summer, Matt will dig
a 30-by-20-foot pond five feet deep in the ground.
Next, he will add a dark liner to absorb heat and reinforce
the existing fence,
keeping the ducks in and predators out.
All right.
So this is 25 centered.
Just make a mark with your foot right there.
I'm feeling grateful for all that's happening and overwhelmed
in the fact that I never thought there'd be so much happening.
[Tracy] A little bigger, it's 30.
My kids are finally gonna get help that
they desperately need.
All right, here we go.
[Tracy] I, you know, was a single mom and have seen Taylor go through
so many things that this is her dream.
And however I can help, I'm so honored and I'm so thankful
and appreciative that this is happening.
It's just surreal.
All right, before we start building anything attached
to the adobe home, let's talk about the garden.
I would love to put one in the ground,
but there's trash all around us.
This is like some of the worst of the trash.
[Misty] This is the worst trash, OK.
This is a pretty crazy day. There's some setbacks.
I have some concerns for sure when it comes to
the adobe home.
We don't know in this moment if we're gonna be able to
put in a greenhouse to grow food year-round.
So I want to give this homestead a garden.
However, there's a lot of trash that's been buried.
I feel like there's probably a little bit less that way.
I know it's closer to the house.
I don't mind walking over there if I have to be in the trailer.
Everything that I would do on this homestead if it were mine,
would be on the other side of the acequia,
downhill from the irrigation ditch.
But there's no access to that part of the homestead, so I had
to figure out what is the safest solution to be able
to feed these homesteaders.
Over here gets pretty similar sunlight to over there.
I've known you one day, and I can tell you're a super
optimistic person. You want to know why?
[Taylor] Why?
Because you moved the outdoor garden to the doorstep
of the adobe house. -[Taylor] I know I did.
[Misty] You are, like, 100% convinced.
To provide the homestead with a vital food source,
Misty will tackle a two-part project.
First, she will dig underground garden beds in an area without
buried trash, complete with a surrounding protective fence.
Later, if deemed possible after Marty has freed the adobe home,
she will utilize one of the south-facing rooms,
turning it into a solarium greenhouse that can provide
both warmth to the home and growing space for more food.
I still am not 100% convinced that there's no trash,
so we'll start digging and see what we find.
-[Taylor] All right. -[Misty] Maybe it's gold.
[Taylor, laughing] Spanish gold.
I have a degree in nutrition, so I'm really passionate about
where my food comes from, so I'm really excited
that Misty's working on the garden.
Jacob and I both grew up in New Mexico, and it's our dream
to heal this piece of land because it's been neglected
for so long. -Really good.
[Taylor] The last couple years have been so hard, so I'm just
overwhelmed and speechless and so grateful.
[Misty] All right. Yeah!
So far, so good.
There's no garbage, which is amazing.
I'll take it.
We do, however, just have sand only, so clearly you're not able
to grow anything in this soil, but there's no garbage,
there's nothing toxic, and I think this is exciting,
and we'll just deal with the soil later.
Somebody has put a chain in here.
It's not a good sign that we're just gonna find things
we've never seen before.
How are we gonna get to a place where we leave them
with an authentic adobe building?
I don't know.
2 [Marty] Clint! Boom up.
With most of the trees now cleared around
the adobe home...
[Marty] It's gonna get a little bit western.
...Marty prepares to dismantle rotting additions.
Kind of sketchy.
Lift.
Whoa! [whistles]
OK, so
this I've never seen before. Check this out.
So these are most likely 16-inch block boards
solid with concrete.
But somebody has put a chain in here.
Now, we can't get it all off.
Six heavy chains are holding that together from the post.
So we have to grind the chains off.
I mean, it's gonna break the strap.
Look at these guys grinding! I mean, it's crazy!
Because there's high wind? Why?
Could be from high winds, actually.
Somebody had a bad experience with high winds?
Absolutely.
Once upon a time, someone built an original
authentic adobe structure.
But over the years, different people have lived
here, added on, and put a second story on it.
And that's when things went bad.
It's not a good sign that we're just gonna find things
we've never seen before, but we've got to grind
that chain off.
How are we going to get to a place where we leave them
with an authentic adobe building?
I don't know.
[Misty] Oh, God.
Lift is your friend.
The work's over here. Get over here!
Grab this! You!
All right.
[Marty] Hold on there, sunshine.
I'm a little bit worried, but I'm more excited
than anything else.
Hook that anywhere you want, long as it comes with us.
[Jacob] We don't know if the house is fixable or not, or if we just
wasted a whole bunch of time. -[Marty] Hand me that chain.
[Jacob] In any case, because most of my work has been in
the restaurant industry... -Back it up!
...while the Raneys are here, I wanna learn everything I can.
-[whistles] -[crashing]
[music plays]
A lot of people don't know this, but I speak duck and I'm gonna
communicate with these ducks and tell them they're gonna
have a pond real soon.
Quack, quack, quack, quack.
[quacking]
[laughing]
As a new day begins on the Johnson family's
New Mexico homestead...
[Matt] All right, watch out, parents.
I'm gonna swing back over and I'll get this finished.
...the footprint for the new duck pond nears completion.
[Matt] This pond is gonna allow the ducks to clean themselves.
It'll keep them a lot healthier, and that's a good
thing because this is the only source of protein
the homestead has.
[Robert] It's getting close.
[Matt] We're getting close, yeah.
Like we always say, water is life.
These ducks need water.
It's gonna help them live longer, makes them happier
and more productive.
And it's a big enough pond that they can actually expand
their duck population in the future.
This is looking pretty quack-tastic.
-It is. -[Matt] We need to get a pond liner in here,
get some water in here,
and then it'll be quack-tacular.
Quack, quack.
[Misty, vocalizing]
[Misty] All right, Taylor, let's talk plants.
-[Taylor] OK. -[Misty] These sunken beds are designed
to get the plants out of these elements,
out of the wind and the extreme temperatures.
It also retains that much more moisture,
and it can even collect rainwater.
And hopefully, at some point, we can score some topsoil
on the other side of the acequia,
because when it comes to this outdoor garden space,
we're not gonna be growing anything in the sand.
First, we want to figure out how we're protecting the garden,
'cause there's a lot of critters interested in that food.
So I think at this point, we just get this garden
protected, throw up the fence, and done. -[Taylor] OK.
[Misty] OK, so we're gonna grab a T-post and the T-post pounder
and just go until it's level with the dirt.
OK, where do you think it should go?
-You think this distance? -Oh, this distance?
Yeah.
Yeah, I guess I'll come in a little bit.
So you and Jacob, are you guys married?
We're about to get married next month.
-What? -Yeah.
So are you guys doing a big thing, a small thing?
No, just a little thing with family.
We might do it here because
now it looks nice. -[Misty] What?
[Misty] No pressure.
[Jacob] We are engaged
and we want to start a family here.
But we don't have enough comforts for ourselves,
let alone bringing other lives into the world.
Yeah, I can't imagine putting another being
in that tiny trailer.
How did he propose?
-In the trailer. -[Misty] Oh, no.
And you said yes?
[laughing]
Yep.
Well, hopefully this is your wedding present.
This is your beginning of your life together, and, like,
kids and the whole thing? -Yeah, that's the plan.
It's really special. I didn't know that.
-Yeah, congratulations. -[Taylor] Thank you.
[Misty] It's so sweet to hear from Taylor
that they're newly engaged.
This is the beginning of their beautiful life together.
No pressure. But we got to set these guys up
to where they can actually be successful gardeners.
All right, let's stand it up.
-Yeah, Taylor. -I grew up in an adobe home.
[Marty] This adobe structure,
can you tell if it's still good to build on?
2 [Marty whistles] Hit it!
As demolition of the damaged second floor is underway,
exposing the original adobe bricks...
-[Marty] How you doing? -How you doing?
...the structure is ready to be assessed for durability.
-So you're the governor. -I'm a former governor.
Living in a log home in Alaska doesn't have anything in common
to Pueblos living in adobe structures.
So I need to talk to an expert like Patrick to make sure
it's safe to move forward.
-It's my first time here... -Mm-hmm.
...and we are working on an adobe building.
I don't know much about it, just the basic history
of Pueblo. -My people are called...
uh, Tewa -- Tewa people.
I believe that the Tewa are the ones that found this area.
The name Tewa refers to linguistically related
Native American people who lived in communities referred to
as Pueblos, a name applied to them by the Spanish colonists
in the late 1500s.
A majority of Tewa-speaking Pueblos lived in
the southwestern United States near the Rio Grande.
The fertile area near the river appealed to them because
the Tewa were horticulturalists who developed
hydraulic irrigation, such as the acequia, to water
their principal crops of corn, beans, and squash.
Today, tens of thousands of Pueblo people continue
to preserve their heritage across New Mexico
and the Southwest.
The engineering of the Tewa people goes back into
history again. They knew how to lay bricks.
What is it about the adobe style that makes it perfect
for this high desert?
Both insulation to keeping the warmth in.
-Does it work? -It works, yeah.
Did you personally, with your hands, do you have history
building with adobe? -Yes.
-I grew up in an adobe home. -[Marty] How old was your home?
Probably over 100 years old.
And then I learned how to do this kind of work.
Foundation, adobe framing.
I had a finger -- a hand on in every part of the structure.
So I don't have to worry that this is 80 years old,
that it's still good to build on?
I would say,
if that's still strong, it'll hold it up.
Can you tell if that's a good job or a bad job?
[Patrick] So, uh...
It looks good.
That's all I had to hear. Thank you.
OK, let's roll this thing out.
Over at the duck pen...
I'm gonna be the anchor and you're gonna
be the puller. -OK.
...while Matt installs the new duck pond liner...
-OK, keep pulling. -[Jacob] Hey.
[Marty] What's happening?
This is my mom and her husband, Jim.
...an extra set of hands has arrived on the homestead.
OK, let's regroup on some things.
Ready?
And with good news about the adobe structure,
Misty can begin her greenhouse plan.
It gets complicated when you do anything with adobe
because as you start to take it apart, you can crack it
and you can compromise the structure.
-[Misty] If we take this metal off... -[Taylor] Mm-hmm.
...we can commit to just this section,
this little 12 by 12 zone... -OK.
...which is what average greenhouses are.
And we try to turn this part of your adobe home into a sunroom.
-That's what I'm thinking. -OK.
Do you like that idea?
-Yeah, let's do it. -Let's go.
Here's the plan. So we'll start on this side.
And as we peel back this metal, hopefully we know what we're
dealing with, right?
And if this wasn't sketchy enough, Clint is still in
demo mode, but we don't have time to man down.
So we're just working really cautiously.
[Taylor] Cool.
Whoo!
Ugh!
All right. Little by little, here we go.
[Taylor] Wee hoo!
[Taylor] I'm very excited about starting the greenhouse.
This should definitely be a game changer for me to be
able to start stuff that needs a long time to start,
like peppers and alliums, as well as keep our cacti alive
in the winter. It's awesome.
It's so great.
How's it feel to demo your house and work?
-Feels great. -Feels a little sketchy being up here right now.
[Jacob] Yep.
[Misty] One, two, three.
[man] Woo.
A lot of people go to therapy.
I just demo.
[laughing]
Oh.
Dad!
We're in the process of taking off the metal one nail
at a time, and it's not easy.
And when it comes to structures, it's a good idea
to remodel and repurpose things.
The problem is, is it takes 10 times longer to do that
instead of just building something from scratch.
[Marty whistles] Let's go.
[Misty] So I'm calling in my dad in the ex so he can just hook
up to this thing and rip it off, hopefully in one piece.
[Marty] OK.
I've reached that point where I'm getting a little, let's say
nervous, about how much time it has taken just to get
to the house, how much damage that we've encountered,
and now we have to fix that. At some point,
we have to turn this around from demo to actually
rebuilding, resurrecting this beautiful adobe structure.
Here we go. Stand back, please.
Up!
We're trying to preserve this structure.
[Misty] Step out. My dad's doing weird stuff.
[Marty] Misty is trying to put in the greenhouse.
What we can't have happen is anything break through
to the main floor, because if it crumbles,
this rescue is in trouble.
[cracking]
[suspenseful music plays]
[Misty] Dad!
[Marty] Whoa!
2 [Marty] Look out!
[Misty] Oh, my gosh.
[Marty] Wow, that was close.
Hey, bud, come on over.
We're really getting close to just having the structure
that we want to preserve. -Yeah.
So let's get this addition off the side of it.
-Yeah, hopefully it separates cleanly from the building. -Yeah.
And that's you. So let's start
on that side over there, please.
-All right. -You ready?
-[Jacob] Yes, sir. -All right.
You're good.
Oh, yeah, man.
You're coming off clean from the house, the whole thing.
-All the way down? -[Jacob] All the way down.
It's separating perfectly.
Keep going.
[Marty] We're doing this invasive-type demolition on this building
because underneath all of these additions...
You can get down more. Bite more into it.
...is the bare-bones original, authentic adobe structure.
Yes!
Whoo!
Beautiful.
[quacking]
[Matt] OK, how we looking?
It's the fourth day of work on the Johnson family's
New Mexico homestead.
Looking really good.
While Matt makes final touches on the new spacious duck pond.
[Misty] OK, so...
Misty and Taylor begin lighting things up inside
the future solarium greenhouse.
[Misty] I'm trying to figure out
how to maximize the sunlight in here.
If this was all windows, do you think sun would be able
to come in? -[Taylor] I do think sun would come in.
[Misty] New Mexico in the winter, it gets in the teens at night,
and it's cold.
But the majority of the year, they struggle with these
high temperatures, hence these adobe structures with walls
this thick. They're designed to stay cool.
So for me, trying to create this little solarium
and actually turn it into a place where they can grow
food is gonna be a challenge.
Full steam ahead, we're gonna try to make this work.
All right, this is the moment I've been dreading is cutting
into the 80-year-old adobe home.
I don't know how this is going to go.
I don't know if the whole structure is going to crumble,
but I do know that this greenhouse desperately needs
more light. You don't know until you try.
We're going to start with one window, and if it's not
too weird, we're gonna put in three.
OK, here we go.
Whoo!
Tool number two.
How comfortable are you just hopping up here?
[Taylor] Good.
[music plays]
[Misty] Do you see anything?
[Taylor] You're through.
Today, Misty and I have been installing the first window.
It's quite the challenge to cut through the adobe.
Yep.
And it's taking a lot of tools, a lot of manpower,
a lot of effort,
and just eating up the limited time that we have out here
with the Raneys.
Yoo-hoo! Hey, I can see you.
Hi, Taylor. How are you feeling?
-Not good. -[Misty] Really?
-Yeah. -Hold on.
[Taylor] This last year, I had like a major upsurgence
of health issues.
I have a medical condition that causes me to break out in hives
when I'm overheated or stressed out.
She can go anaphylactic is one really scary part of it.
[Taylor] Our trailer, it's making homesteading hell for me.
So it's that much more
imperative that we get into this house as soon as possible.
I'm having like --
I'm having a bad symptom flare-up.
[Misty] Well, that's not good. I'm sorry.
Today, I saw firsthand kind of what Taylor goes through
and kind of what she's up against, just reassuring
everything we do here has to be something manageable,
so the solarium is in the adobe home that's close, the beds are
close by, and I think we're on the right track.
[tapping]
What do you think of the progress so far?
[Jacob] Um, I'm stoked, I'm over the moon.
[Marty] We're getting to the where we got to start patching this
beautiful structure back together.
[Jacob] All right.
[Marty] As we dismantled sections of this adobe structure,
there's now some doorways where the framed additions
used to be.
But now we have to fill those in.
What product are we gonna use?
Adobe, I assume.
Have you ever made an adobe brick in your life?
-I have not. -OK, guess what?
Neither have I.
OK, so I'll grab some
80-year-old adobe right now with the excavator.
-And when you see the actual clumps of adobe... -[Jacob] Yeah.
...just put them in the tub.
The only thing that we need to add to that,
according to the locals,
is water and then straw. -OK.
We'll pour it into here, and then we'll let the sun bake
it for a while, and we'll have three bricks laying there.
-All right? -All right.
Once we have three bricks,
we'll immediately fill it back up, make three more,
three more, three more. -All right.
[Marty] Is this plan going to work?
There's only one way to find out.
Good answer.
[Jacob] I have heard in theory that
breaking the adobe bricks and then adding water
and the right amount of hay
should just turn into adobe again.
I love the idea of repurposing the old adobe.
It's like being able to have an old house
and change it to your whim whenever you want.
[Marty] Hey guys, we're very fortunate.
This is Zack, born and raised in this valley.
We're at that point right now where we're trying
to make adobe. I know it's too cold.
It's the wrong time of year. Are we on the right track?
-Are we on the wrong track? -[Zack] It looks like
it's lacking in a little bit of straw.
Let's get it all mixed up real good,
and then we'll take a look at it.
The good thing about it is you're using the same adobes
that were used on this home. That's history right there.
[Jacob] Meeting Zack is really great.
Being able to get help from our community and get that
wisdom and knowledge is really big for us.
Did these guys all have dirt floors?
Yes, they all had dirt floors.
They would go hunting, and they'd save the blood
from their kill, and they would seal the floors using the blood.
-That's crazy. -Yeah.
Wow, that's the coolest thing I ever heard.
All right, are we ready to make some adobe brick?
Yes, yes.
You want to fill it in nice and tight in there.
-[Marty] What do you guys think? -[Jacob] It's awesome.
Especially when building material cost as much as
they do these days. This is all free.
It doesn't get more basic down-to-earth than that.
They're beautiful.
[Matt] We're talking about a true off-grid homesteading solution.
You rock and roll.
[Matt] There's nothing more rock-and-roll than
food security. -[Tracy] Yeah, absolutely.
2 [Marty] So just when you thought every day was sunny,
tomorrow it's going to be 16 degrees out here.
[Misty] Yesterday,
[sighs]
I spent the entire day trying to put a window in
that adobe home.
How many more windows are you gonna put in?
I don't know.
After that experience, probably not many.
It takes a really long time.
It feels literally like you're
breaking down a prison with a hammer.
But also, at some point, let's not forget about
the usable wetland side of the homestead.
Most of the year, it's full of water, and I'm hoping we can
score some topsoil for these sunken beds
on the other side of this acequia.
So we've made some good progress.
We've dug the pond, and now I want to work on
non-grid food storage.
The thing is, I think the solution could be something
I saw on the first day.
This is storage, and then there's an entrance
over on that side.
[Matt] The two buildings are actually connected?
-[Tracy] Yeah. -[Matt] There's way more space down here.
[Tracy] Yeah.
If we turn it into a root cellar with an above-ground
processing shed, we're talking about a true off-grid
homesteading solution. -[Marty] I like it.
We're down to just a few days left, and I'm looking
at a structure that looks like a bomb went off.
We're not even close to putting it back together again, OK?
And now these temperatures are not the temperatures that these
indigenous people made adobe.
They made them in the summer so they could be sun-dried.
So we have challenge after challenge after challenge,
but what are we gonna do?
Well, Obi-Wan Adobe, you're our only hope.
What?
Hey, not so fast.
You're going to be Princess Leia in these brick.
[Wookie sounds]
[laughing]
Back at the adobe house...
-You ready to just chip away? -[Taylor] Yep, let's do it.
...Misty and Taylor continue the difficult task
of cutting out windows.
[Misty] I want to do this with you because I don't want to do
it alone, and I want you to know, like, just how hard it is
when you're like, "Hey, let's put in three windows,"
just so if you're like, OK, I think we can get away with
one, OK, maybe just one more, but we'll just take it little
by little. How are you feeling?
-Oh, I'm feeling... -[Misty] You're dragging.
I'm having symptom flare-ups today.
-From yesterday, you think? -[Taylor] It is, yeah.
Beating a wall with a hammer is probably one of the hardest
things you can do, so just work slow.
I've definitely been working probably harder than I should
be because I just want to keep up with everybody.
-[Misty] How's it going over here? -[Taylor] Slow.
[Misty] Slow. OK, me too.
[Taylor] It just puts it further into perspective just how slowly
I have to do things and how long it actually takes me to get
stuff when I'm doing anything by myself.
It's a little frustrating.
[straining, groaning]
-[Taylor] Yeah! -[Misty] Gosh.
[Misty] Whoo! We've got a window!
[Taylor] It's a lot brighter in here already.
[Misty] OK, window number two.
I mean, in a perfect world, I would love it if I could just
snap my fingers and they'd all be in, but it's a lot of work... -Yeah.
...and I don't know if I can --
I don't know if I can help you get the other ones in.
[Misty] Would you want to just turn the door into a window?
What about this door?
-[Misty] What? -[Taylor] Isn't this the silliest
bathroom door you've ever seen?
Ha, I cannot believe you have a glass door on your bathroom.
[Taylor] Isn't that funny?
It was quite the challenge to cut through the adobe
and get that all framed in.
Actually, even though this wasn't the plan that we had,
it feels really good to repurpose items
that we have here.
Oh, yeah. Yes!
[Taylor] Look at all the light. I love it.
-[Misty] The best part is it only took an hour. -[Taylor] Mm-hmm.
[Matt] All right, watch out.
With plans for off-grid food storage...
-[Matt] How's it going? -[Tracy] Pretty good.
[Tracy] How are you?
...Matt, Robert, and Tracy work to access long-forgotten
structures on the homestead.
[Matt] Let's hook up the chains and rip it out of the way.
[Tracy] Oh, wow.
At first glance, this building looks dilapidated.
You can't even get through the front door without climbing
through a mountain of brush and tree and debris.
-Oh, my gosh. -Yeah.
Is that thing holding up the building?
[Matt] I don't know if the tree is holding up the building
or the building is holding up the tree.
Yeah, grew right into that support.
I don't know if this thing is usable until we start
clearing this away and actually
gain access to the lower part of this building.
To ensure the Johnson family has reliable food storage,
Matt will work with Robert and Tracy to refurbish
the dilapidated structures connected underground.
First, they will remove the invasive trees,
allowing safe access to the stairwell
connecting both rooms.
Next, they will close off a 13 by 4 foot portion
underground to serve as a root cellar.
Finally, they will repurpose the above-ground building
as a processing center
and install a freezer to keep meat fresh.
[Matt] Here's what we're gonna do.
I'm gonna try to disconnect the tree as much as I can so
we don't just rip this entire roof down.
[Tracy] Right.
[Matt] If we can restore these old buildings, that can really
help the homestead.
Because I think diversifying the way they preserve food
and store food on this homestead is a necessity.
Watch out!
And having a root cellar and a meat livestock processing
station could be the game changer to bring this homestead
into full-on production.
OK, are we ready?
The only risk that I see, and it's a big one --
this thing could collapse.
OK, in the words of my dentist --
let's pull this thing!
-[Robert] There we go, timber! -[Matt] Nice.
[Matt] I think that'll work.
It's completely intact.
[Marty] Matt!
Misty!
Later that day, Marty secures a much-needed solution
to access the other side of the acequia.
[Misty] So I hear a bridge is coming, and I think, like,
"Oh, it's probably a little footbridge."
It rolls up, and it's 40 feet long.
Like, it's major.
Ready?
[Misty] It is such a huge win for this homestead because not only does
it allow access to all that usable farmland, I also get
to grab all the fertile topsoil, fill up the garden beds,
which is really exciting.
The problem is, is it's just sitting here.
It's not in yet.
I'm sure that's not going to be easy.
[Marty] Let's go for it.
Hold.
I'm going to try to walk, get it forward.
It might tip over. Look out!
Go big or go home. That bridge is massive!
[Misty] Dad!
Oh, my gosh!
[thud]
-[Marty] Whoa. -Hey, stop!
Whoa, damn it!
[Matt] Go higher!
Guide me back, Matt. [whistles]
[Matt] Straight back, you're doing good.
It's amazing watching him put the bridge in.
I've never seen anything like that in my life.
Watch out for the fence!
[Taylor] Having that bridge there means so much to me.
I'm really excited to be able to have the access to almost
like a third of our property.
You got another eight feet.
Whoa.
Pull it back.
Good, good.
We did it.
[Marty] We're looking at some adobe bricks that have been frozen.
There's still moisture in there.
I'm gonna have to admit defeat.
2 [music plays]
All right, it's 7 AM on Tuesday, and we got snow.
It's all starting to go away, but
a little frosty this morning.
It's also really, really cold right now.
It's like 18 degrees.
I'm not feeling good.
I'm having a lot of symptom flare-ups.
I'm having what's called a histamine dump, so...
probably going to be mostly out of commission today.
[Marty] OK, stand back here and look at this spread.
You've got a serious homestead going on here.
Yeah, a real homestead now.
All right, so we're down to the wire, and there's a lot
more work to do. -Infinite.
And we're not done with cleanup, excavation.
-Yeah. -Who's going to do that work?
-Me. -It's going to take equipment.
-Yeah. -Do you have any?
Uh, I don't.
-You're gonna have to rent it? -I'm going to have to rent it.
-Have you ever ran equipment? -No.
OK.
How about you say school starts now?
School starts now.
[Marty] Now, the main thing is don't hurt yourself or someone else.
As near as I can tell, these homesteaders haven't
grown anything on this property except cactus.
But now, we have provided access across the acequia,
which the Pueblo people referred to as promised land.
It's that fertile.
See what this lever on your left does, please.
That said, we're leaving.
It's time that we teach Jacob how to run equipment,
which he's going to need to do to cultivate
and work that land.
Once he does, the sky's the limit.
-So it's pretty easy, right? -[Jacob] Yeah.
I've worked with you long enough to know
you're a smart guy.
So, I'm looking at a huge tree that I dug out on day one.
We're trying to clean things up.
-Yeah. -So how do you feel
about grabbing that and you put it
anywhere you want? It's all you.
I got work to do. Get it done, please.
-Thank you. -Hell yeah!
All right.
I haven't had confidence working here alone.
But now, I feel like I really learned a lot
that I'm gonna carry forward
throughout my life.
[Marty] I like that a lot. There you go.
Back near the adobe house, a critical delivery of lumber
is used for new roofing on the solarium greenhouse...
[Misty] Okey dokey.
...while Misty's window struggles continue.
[Misty] No. This is not the freaking tool.
[Matt] OK. We got some wood.
We got some materials.
Let's do a little bit of layout here.
And in the future root cellar,
Matt puts his plans into action.
After being able to access this building, I realized
it was something much more than a root cellar.
There's a kitchen in there. There's a bathroom in there.
There's a water tank in there. This thing is like a house.
So what I think we should do is we should just turn a small
portion of this downstairs area into a root cellar.
Yeah.
Everybody's anxious because you don't know what to expect
and you're just going, "What's gonna happen
with the root cellar? Is it solid?"
-OK, bring that in there. -[Tracy] OK.
And then you start working and you see the progress that's
happening, and then everybody
can start to take a little bit of a chill.
Oh, it's gonna fit.
We're just trying to get our top and bottom clear.
Yeah, got you, right.
[Matt] There's two steps to this building process.
One is underground and that will be a root cellar.
The above-ground part of this building is gonna be
the perfect place to process food.
Let's do 80 and three quarters.
Turning this shack into a place
where Jacob can process livestock out of the elements,
warm, sanitary.
That right there is gonna be a huge win for the homestead.
OK.
That was our last sheet of FRP.
This stuff is commercial kitchen, easy to clean,
and it's definitely the perfect material for the inside
of our processing area. -[Tracy] Nice.
And then at some point, we're going to have
to quackinate these ducks and then process them right here
in the Quack Shack.
There's one that's not very nice.
[laughing]
So here, you hold that one right there.
Later that day...
Gentle, gentle.
...Marty and Jacob check on the status
of their adobe bricks.
There we go.
[Marty] We're looking at some adobe bricks
that I'm pretty sure have been frozen.
Now the sun is thawing them out.
There's still moisture in there.
-Yeah. -[Marty] Let's try this.
From the day we first arrived in New Mexico,
the temperature has been dropping.
And here we are trying to make adobe bricks.
All right, so I see ice and frost right there.
[Jacob] Yeah. This is why they don't do them in the winter.
[Marty] And it all requires water.
Water freezes at 32 degrees,
a temperature I haven't seen in days.
It's going to freeze as hard as a diamond.
It'll have no value. It'll be worthless.
Bad news.
To be honest with you, I'm gonna look you in the eye,
and I'm gonna have to admit defeat.
And I think the making of any adobe bricks in this
temperature is a mistake.
We're gonna have to switch gears, and we've got to
figure out a new plan, or we're in big trouble.
2 [music plays]
[Misty] Whoo!
[Marty] That looks good.
With the new roof being installed on the adobe house...
[Jacob] Oh, yeah, it looks great.
...Marty regroups with Jacob fresh off the failure
of the frozen adobe bricks.
[Marty] So we talked the other day about
this building has a lot of doors and you want
to eliminate some of them.
Yeah, just one on the other side of the house.
[Marty] Just one. We could just frame it in.
What do you say we just go the extra mile and we keep
everything adobe? -[Jacob] Yeah.
And we use the ones we took out of the building.
-Yeah. -Is it cool?
I like it. It's also free.
Now, you want to start packing these to the other side?
Yep.
I should use the loader here.
[Marty] Do you know how to run the loader?
-[Jacob] I don't. -[Marty] All right, same thing.
Climb in.
Jacob is a smart guy, a fast learner, and it's not
about operating equipment.
It's about boosting his confidence.
-[Marty] Let's go. -All right.
I'm leaving, and now he is the man of the homestead.
Oh, I like it. Nice and gentle.
Good man.
That's about it. [whistles]
-[Marty] Put it in neutral. -Oh, yeah.
Good job.
Thank you.
There you go.
-[Marty] Good man. -[Jacob] All right.
[Matt] OK.
Across the homestead, Matt gathers Robert,
Tracy, and Taylor to reveal the ready-for-use duck pond
and processing center.
It looks awesome.
This is way bigger than anything that they've ever had.
[Matt] We went from maybe 20 gallons of water to 2,000 gallons.
Wow! You hear that, buddy?
Check it out. Oh, yeah.
-Oh, yeah! -Oh, my gosh.
[Taylor] Yeah, good girl.
[Matt] Yes!
It's so cool to like see them swim.
[Taylor] Yeah. Whoo-hoo!
-Good birds. -[Matt laughing]
-[Tracy] They say thank you, too. -[laughing]
-That was really cool to see. -That wasn't bad.
Yeah.
[Matt] All in all, I'm really happy with how it turned out.
This is where all the homesteading started,
is right here. -[Taylor] Right here.
And it's not just for the ducks.
It can be for geese.
-It can be for all types of animals. -Yeah.
I mean, we got all our ducks in a row.
-Yeah. -Whoo-hoo!
[Taylor] It looks awesome. Thank you so much.
[Matt] What do you think about this space?
[Tracy] The processing center with the ducks, it's really exciting
that they even got electricity in there and a little window.
I think that's so great. Some natural light.
So, it's very cool.
Argh. Look at this, matey.
I know they're not slaughtering their ducks right now,
but we do have some duck meat in here.
This part's pretty cool, but let's take a look
at that root cellar. -[Tracy] Let's do it.
Deliver some food to be put on the shelf.
Yep.
They even put a light down there and made the steps
a little bit less scary to go down there to store food.
This has put Taylor and Jacob a minimum of five years
ahead of what they could have done on their own, so...
OK.
...it's pretty special.
[Matt] Taylor and Jacob, they have the best root cellar
and their food security starts now.
Excellent.
Seven days ago, the Johnson family's ducks were
crammed into dirty pools that would freeze overnight,
and they had nowhere to process their meat
in a sanitary manner.
Today, they have a 2,000-gallon pond that will give their ducks
plenty of room to bathe and will remain ice-free
in the wintertime.
They also have a renovated structure that now serves
as a meat processing center, complete with a freezer
for storage and a root cellar for canning meat
and storing fresh vegetables.
Thank you so much for everything you did.
-Well, thank you. -Yeah, it's great.
You rock and roll!
[Matt] There's nothing more rock-and-roll
than food security. -[Tracy] Absolutely!
Over by the adobe house, while Jacob finishes delivering
the original bricks to the door he plans to seal, Marty may
have a solution for mixing up the mortar
even in freezing temperatures.
[Marty] We tried to make adobe bricks and the temperature got down to
15 or 16, so we might do a little hack
to keep it from freezing.
We're trying to make adobe bricks with water,
but the sun's not drying them and the mortar is freezing.
We're going to add a non-toxic organic antifreeze
to the water, all right? We're making Alaska adobe.
How are we going to make mortar to put adobe bricks together?
I'll tell you how.
The way I would do it in Alaska.
I would add a little bit of
antifreeze.
Grab some brick and start laying, please.
Don't be shy.
I am really stoked about how we did the adobe
and all of that throughout this whole process.
Having that knowledge and skill to be able to reconstruct
a 100-year-old building out of the same bricks
is really, really cool.
You're a good worker.
I'm so glad we had a chance to do this wall, because I've seen
you do every aspect of adobe.
You can't tell me that's not a good-looking wall.
Here you go, sir.
-Oh, it's sweet. -[Marty] Cool.
What this building really is, it's heritage.
I've watched you take it apart,
save some of the adobe bricks.
I've seen you pound them into powder, add water.
I've seen you make mortar,
and now I've seen you actually build a wall.
There's nothing keeping you from making adobe bricks
and building anything you want.
When I drive out of here tomorrow, I'm not looking back
because you're a worker, you're smart, you love
this land, and you're a homesteader.
-I'm done. -Thank you.
-How's it feel? -[Jacob] It's amazing.
It's freedom to be able to do
things for yourself.
[music plays]
[Marty] Should we try and just see, test the bridge a little bit?
It's the final day of the rescue
on the Johnson family homestead.
My dad's going to try and drive that excavator
across this bridge.
One last step remains before the homesteaders can safely
utilize the other side of their land across the acequia.
[Marty] These homesteaders need to access an acre or so of land.
Why?
They got about five acres of this,
and they got about an acre and a half of this beautiful,
black, dark, rich soil full of nutrients.
Misty wants to build a garden.
How are we gonna do that? -A lot of dirt.
-They have to fill it with a lot of dirt. -Where's it coming from?
-The other side. -Exactly.
The question, will the bridge support
a 60,000-pound excavator?
[Matt] Here he comes.
Don't turn. Just go straight.
Don't turn.
[Matt] Keep coming.
[Marty] Look underneath there. Any strain, any sagging.
It's flexing.
This thing's making crazy noises.
Oh, my god!
[Misty] Don't turn.
I can't see.
-I can't see. -[Misty] Just go straight.
[Matt] You gotta come straight off. Just keep coming.
-Whoa, whoa! -Dad, no!
2 The word on the street is, you guys are getting married.
Did you say something to Misty about this?
-Mm-hmm. -You did?
-Yeah. -So I think that's exciting.
-[both] Yeah. -We had no idea.
So I find out from Misty that Taylor and Jacob are gonna
get married. I thought of the perfect gift.
You guessed it.
-Take a good look at it. -Wow!
-Is that turquoise? -[Marty] Yes.
-[Taylor] Wow! -[Jacob] That's really cool.
[Taylor] Thank you. It's gorgeous.
[Marty] We're going to have this eagle overlooking...
-[Jacob] Oh, yeah. -...the Rio Grande.
[Jacob] There's a lot of meaning to it,
which I think is really cool.
The bald eagle, it represents freedom, which is really
what I feel like we've been given after this.
-Congratulations! -Thank you.
You're welcome. Thank you.
-Thank you. -[Marty] Thank you.
[Marty] The eagle has landed.
2 -[Misty] Dad, no, no! -[Matt] Whoa, whoa!
[Misty] Dad, don't turn. Don't turn.
I can't see.
[Misty] Your backside's off the bridge.
[Matt] Yeah.
-[Marty] Whoa. -[Misty] Oh, my god.
-You're going to come off of it. -[Matt] He's not.
Now go straight.
That's good. You're almost off of it.
-[Misty] Yeah, that's good. -Whoo!
Was it worth it to take a few risks to set a bridge,
cross that bridge, and then work the land?
Absolutely.
That was, like, really stressful.
I think that's the scariest thing that's ever
gonna go across that bridge. -[laughing]
It's all worth it, and it's the future
for their homestead dream, period.
Matt, look, look at the ground.
-[Misty] It's not sand desert. -[Matt] It's crazy.
It's like grass, topsoil.
There's moisture. Look at it.
-It's wet. -[Marty] Look at that.
[Marty] It's incredible.
But for now, I gotta clear land. Let's go!
While Marty clears the invasive trees across
the acequia to eradicate them from the homestead...
Good?
...Misty uses the new bridge to collect fertile soil
from the newly accessible two acres.
As the Raneys first foray in New Mexico, nears
mission accomplished.
-[Taylor] This looks awesome. -[Misty] Do you love it?
-Yes, this is so much space. -It's so much space.
-Clearly there's no plants. -[Taylor] Yeah.
It's a little cold.
It's a little cold, but when you take this
and you combine it with that,
it'll help. -[Taylor] Oh, yeah.
Having the capability of being able to grow a decent amount
of food and access below the acequia and preserve
what we harvest... -Oh, it's so nice in here.
...it's a game changer for us.
It's like we're hitting the ground running instead
of dragging our feet to be able to get there.
[Misty] I love this space so much.
This might be like one of the most incredible things
I've done, because it was next to impossible to get the solarium
to a place where it not only allowed sunlight
but also captured warmth... -[Taylor] Mm-hmm.
...and I was skeptical if we could actually do that.
-Yeah. -[Misty] But it's warm in here.
Seven days ago, the Johnson family had no way
to grow food as their small greenhouse was unable
to withstand extreme temperatures
and much of the soil on their homestead was compromised
by buried garbage.
Today, they have a solarium greenhouse built into
their adobe home using windows and natural light to both heat
the house and provide suitable growing conditions for plants.
They also have a fenced-in buried garden complete
with fertile topsoil from across the acequia.
Excited to, like, grow a family
and, like, grow a future?
Like, do you see yourself here in 100 years?
[Taylor] Yeah.
[Misty] Because this structure will still be here.
Before the Raneys came out here, we had talked about
having kids, but it seemed like something we wouldn't be able
to do because we were living in a little one-bedroom trailer,
and now it's looking like something that we can
actually focus our energy on.
We're just blown away at everything that's been done.
Do you have a little jump start?
More like a leap forward. A couple jump starts.
[Marty] You see any changes around this part of the homestead?
[Jacob] More than not, it looks like
a completely different property.
I definitely had a to-do list that was completely
out of my range of being able to accomplish.
You have a bridge to somewhere.
And according to the Pueblo people, prosperity.
This is where our prosperity is going to come from, too.
So much has been crossed off that list that I'm able
to really see clearly what the next priorities are
and where I need to go from here.
And it's not nearly as overwhelming.
[Marty] I'm really proud of you when it comes to trying to restore
this authentic adobe structure that will probably
become your home.
[Jacob] It's gonna become our home very soon here.
I think we can move into this back room here.
-Right here? -Mm-hmm.
And then we're gonna plastic off one room at a time and just
work on one room at a time. -So you already have a plan?
Yeah. It's become a lot
more clear since you guys
have been here, for sure.
I definitely see a lot more work cut out for me
in the future, and I'm ready to tackle that now that I have
a lot of stuff crossed off my list
that's been holding me back for years.
One week ago, Jacob and Taylor were crammed into a tiny,
leaky RV where the extreme heat was worsening
Taylor's health issues.
Invasive trees of heaven blocked access to their adobe
house, and they had no safe way to cross the acequia
to utilize fertile ground.
Today, they can finally access the remodeled adobe home,
now reinforced with a new roof, fresh adobe brick
and free of the unstable additions that once covered it.
They also have a sturdy bridge to the fertile land across
the acequia, where they can begin to farm and take
advantage of the nutrient-rich soil.
I see us coming back to New Mexico.
We love it.
Anytime you guys come back, consider me part
of the Raney reserve. -That, my friend,
is something I'm gonna hold you to.
-Definitely. -Follow me.
Alright.
Is it just me or did the weather change?
-[Taylor] It did. -Hello!
[Misty] Hello!
All right, let it blow, because that building is
structurally sound, it's kind of dried in,
and it's ready to be moved in.
What's really epic about you guys is
you're adobe experts.
You know how to make the bricks, you know how
to take them apart, and you know how to put them back together.
And your dream is pretty cool.
It's a dream we've never heard before.
You have a structure we've never seen before.
So the question is, A is for adobe, B is for brick,
but C is for can you pick up where we left off?
-D for definitely. -Very good.
You guys got us so much farther than we even
thought possible.
I definitely felt like I was living in a tiny little
trailer-shaped prison cell, and that has all become
a totally different story now.
We are thinking about all the things we need to get moved
in to the house, and that'll get us on the road to thinking
about a family really soon, too.
You guys have been great, and we appreciate everything
you've done. -[Marty] That's very nice words.
Thanks for having us.
This was our first time ever coming to New Mexico,
seeing this beautiful land.
It's my wish that Jacob and Taylor embrace
this beautiful opportunity.
G is for...
-Goodbye. -Goodbye.
[laughing]
This might be the all-time homestead now rooted
in the Land of Enchantment --
New Mexico.
Nice to work with nice people.
-[Matt] That's the best thing ever. -[Misty] Whoo!
We're doing really good. We got married in the solarium.
[Jacob] It was a really small ceremony, and it was nice.
Been working on the house.
Ideal goal is to get moved in there by the end of the year.
[Taylor] This is the side of the house where we're going to put
an additional greenhouse passive solar heating room
from this corner to about this corner.
I've started planting things in the garden
and I can grow everything now.
[Jacob] The bridge isn't going anywhere
and across the acequia,
I've been spreading a lot of seeds.
It's going to be mostly an orchard.
Irrigating it will be in the works pretty soon here as well.
[Taylor] The ducks love their pond.
They've started diving under the water,
getting their swimming muscles.
[Jacob] I'm definitely pushing myself to take on more.
[Taylor] And moving forward just leaps and bounds.
-[Taylor] It's incredible. -And to the Raneys, thank you.
Yes, thank you, Raneys.