Spring is finally on the way, and it’s time to start turning this island into a working off-grid farm. No roads, no power, and no easy way in or out—just us, the land, and the work ahead.
In this episode, we start clearing land and running fence lines to prepare for goats, chickens, and sheep. With only basic tools and old-school bushcraft skills, we begin building a shelter for the animals that will call this place home.
Meanwhile, winter isn’t done with us yet. Frozen pipes under the house need fixing, and Kelly gets right under there to make it happen. Later in the video, I head out on the boat with my buddies Smitty and Gord for a Newfoundland classic—turr hunting. These saltwater birds are an essential part of the local diet, and with fresh food being hard to come by on the island, every trip counts.
As the video wraps up, Kelly plays one of her original songs—a piece she wrote with her sister Katie, their band called The Blue Ridge Bandits, while living in Virginia, USA. We then finish off with a Q&A session, answering some of the top questions from the comments about life on the island, our future plans, and the challenges of off-grid living.
Life out here is rugged, unpredictable, and nonstop work—but we’re just getting started.
In this episode, we start clearing land and running fence lines to prepare for goats, chickens, and sheep. With only basic tools and old-school bushcraft skills, we begin building a shelter for the animals that will call this place home.
Meanwhile, winter isn’t done with us yet. Frozen pipes under the house need fixing, and Kelly gets right under there to make it happen. Later in the video, I head out on the boat with my buddies Smitty and Gord for a Newfoundland classic—turr hunting. These saltwater birds are an essential part of the local diet, and with fresh food being hard to come by on the island, every trip counts.
As the video wraps up, Kelly plays one of her original songs—a piece she wrote with her sister Katie, their band called The Blue Ridge Bandits, while living in Virginia, USA. We then finish off with a Q&A session, answering some of the top questions from the comments about life on the island, our future plans, and the challenges of off-grid living.
Life out here is rugged, unpredictable, and nonstop work—but we’re just getting started.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Yep, we're going farming.
00:13Just about spring around here, that means we're getting ready for animals, getting ready
00:19for gardens, getting ready to start making our own food.
00:23That's how they always did it out here, they always had gardens, they always had animals,
00:27we're going to do the same.
00:28So, this measly little bit of water here, step number one in the off-grid paradise farm.
00:38Couple goats, couple sheep, two chickens.
00:50Alright, one, two, three.
00:58All in a day's work, Ronnie.
00:59All in a day's work, Ronnie.
01:02This is what March 5th looks like out here in St. Joseph's.
01:07I mean, we got a flick of snow last night, it doesn't look very springy, probably, when
01:12you watch this, but it's springy.
01:14We're going to go up in the woods and keep clearing lengths.
01:17We've got to make somewhere to put this fencing.
01:19We've already been working on a bit of a spot, got a bunch cleared already, but we need to
01:24clear more, we've got to clear a fence line now.
01:27Right, buddy, too?
01:28Oh, yeah.
01:45My God, it's slippery.
01:47Careful of the ice, Kelly.
01:48Alright.
01:50Ooh.
01:55Now, this here is a spot we've already been cutting.
01:58We've been clearing this for the past little bit over the winter, here and there.
02:03All the trees we've cut from here so far will turn into firewood next winter.
02:08It's all greenwood.
02:09But also now, the byproduct of that is it's going to be clear for animals.
02:14It's looking so beautiful already, so clear.
02:17It's amazing how fast it came together, little by little.
02:21The next big thing to do now is to start cutting some lines, because we've got to run that
02:26fencing.
02:27We've actually got to, like, kind of scope out where the fence line should be, and then
02:32cut some straight lines, run the fencing, build a little goat lean-to here somewhere,
02:37and bring the goats, baby.
02:40Bring them out.
02:41Just like that.
02:42Oh, yes.
02:43That's how they always did it out here.
02:45Every one of the old skippers say that out here in St. Joseph there's lots of animals,
02:50and there's lots of gardens, and clear meadows.
02:53It wasn't all thick woods like this back then.
03:46Whew.
03:59Great job.
04:16Now we just need a shit ton more of that.
04:18Yep.
04:19You're going to go up there?
04:21Yep.
04:22Okay.
04:23Getting hot now, girl.
04:26Yeah, that's right.
04:27Putting in work, putting in work.
04:30Getting that work.
04:45Holy.
05:13Nice.
05:14Ready for goats, my son?
05:25Hmm?
05:26Oh, it's looking really good.
05:29You can definitely see a clear fence line here now.
05:33This will be, like, the back away from the water.
05:37It's a nice little patch of ground for a few goats, a few chickens.
05:41I'd say.
05:42I don't know.
05:43It's my first time having goats, so really I have no idea, but I think it is.
05:49I think Ronnie's going to get along with them just fine.
05:52I'm sure he'll be a little shepherd.
05:54Yeah, I mean, that's the hope.
05:56We'll see.
05:57Who knows.
05:58Ronnie is a jealous puss.
06:00He is quite jealous, yeah.
06:02So right in here is where we're thinking to put a little lean-to or shelter for a couple animals.
06:10It's, like, in these thick woods here.
06:12It's already kind of cleared out.
06:14And we're going to make something as primitive as possible.
06:16Instead of driving a bunch of stakes and, you know, use a bunch of lumber or whatever,
06:20we're going to use some trees that are here.
06:22And these four are kind of, like, in a bit of a square-ish shape.
06:26And we'll hoard it in like a lean-to, like you would for a survival shack, basically.
06:30I mean, you're having a few goats out here and chickens.
06:32They're going to be some hardy creatures.
06:34And, like, we're not expecting to have anything out here that would need a proper barn or proper, proper shelter.
06:40So it's a rough little lean-to in here in these woods.
06:42And, you know, we'll see what happens.
06:45Good to go.
06:46Right?
06:47Do you want to start it on this guy?
06:50This one over to this one.
06:53Mm-hmm.
06:54That's the front.
06:55It does feel like the front.
06:56Yeah.
06:57Yeah.
06:58That's right.
06:59You know.
07:00Right down the line.
07:01Okay.
07:02Thread the needle.
07:03This will be goat heaven, hopefully.
07:34Okay.
07:47Yeah, these two right here.
07:48This is perfect.
07:50This is the back.
07:51That's the front.
07:53Nice, you know, low lean-to.
07:56Back wall's a couple feet high.
07:58All right.
07:59I guess next thing, bring some sticks up.
08:14We got one.
08:15Who's this trying?
08:30I don't know.
08:50Oh, yeah.
08:51One step closer to goat.
08:53One step closer to goat, baby.
08:55All right, let's build it, hey?
08:57Yeah.
08:58No measuring tapes, we'll measure everything in chainsaw lengths, because that's the easiest.
09:08That's the most reasonable way to do it.
09:13One, two, two and a half bar.
09:22Two full chainsaws and a half a bar would be the exact measurement.
09:39I want the nicest pawl for the front, I mean that's going to be the eye catcher for the goat.
09:46Nothing worse than having an ugly goat house.
09:50I think as long as we can crawl under and be able to get them if we need to, it should be good.
09:57What are you building? What are you guys building?
10:01Ronnie doesn't want any chickens or any goats. He's a big jealous puss.
10:07Want to hold this side up a little?
10:13That actually does look quite nice. I think that looks level. Right there.
10:20Got it? Got it.
10:33We want some hardy ass goats. We're not looking for any suburban backyard goats.
10:39We want some tough ass goats that can more or less just tend to themselves out here through the summer.
10:49Woo hoo.
10:53Here we go.
11:11Her name is Dallie. Love her so. Love her so.
11:22Gonna get some goats here right soon. Here right soon.
11:31Alright Billie Dean, ready to get back to work? Stop dicking around down there?
11:34Yes man.
11:38So really all we've got to do now is take a bunch of little poles, line them right off across the roof like that to have something to hold the moss, which is a shingles.
11:57And same on the sides, throw some sticks on the sides, a bit of moss, and Bob's your uncle, bring the goats in.
12:03Just like that. Didn't cost us nickel, maybe cost us about five cents a string.
12:08Only issue with this might be, I can see now, the goats might chew the string off, right?
12:13Yeah they could.
12:14Didn't think of that. We should have been using like baling wire or something like that, but worst case to chew it off, we'll build another one.
12:19It took 40 minutes not even to build this thing. 30 minutes so far.
12:27We're gonna need a whole bunch more of these little poles now to go around here.
12:31We've got a bunch stacked up down there, but I think it's smarter to keep those for firewood for next year and start clearing some of this.
12:37Because we want to cut a bunch of this down anyway, make more space for berry bushes, vegetable gardens, chickens, whatever.
12:45And there's a million of these little trees, little poles everywhere.
13:31There we go.
14:01There we go.
14:31There we go.
15:02Full bushcraft survivor man goats.
15:04Billy and the boys.
15:08All we know is that there are four females, they're about a year old, and one has floppy ears.
15:14We're fingers crossed that we can eventually maybe breed them and I can milk them and have goat milk and soap and things like that.
15:21But for now we're just praying that we get some good females I guess.
15:27Just like a lot of things out here, sight unseen.
15:29We actually haven't touched these goats yet or seen them up close.
15:32Seen a couple pictures.
15:33Apparently they're really civil goats, so whatever that means.
15:37Get these last couple walls up and I think we're good to go with this.
15:43I think there's the other half.
15:57There we go.
16:27There we go.
16:28There we go.
16:29There we go.
16:30There we go.
16:53If you would have asked me a year ago what I think I would be doing today, it would definitely not be this.
17:01This is where I'm headed.
17:05Down into the hole under the house.
17:07I have to go and try and unfreeze our pipes.
17:11Our shower drain and toilet drain has been frozen for probably ten days.
17:31Alright.
17:32I see the pipes for sure.
17:39Oh god.
17:43She's an old duct tape mess, that's for sure.
17:58Okay.
18:00Let's go.
18:11Look at this.
18:19There is the major part of our problem.
18:22Solid ice.
18:25She has solid ice there.
18:31Oh my god.
18:38Get it squared away.
18:39It feels good.
18:40Yes.
18:41Hell yeah.
18:58Okay.
18:59Jeez.
19:12Yes!
19:14All right, my little pipe job has been fixed.
19:17At least the temporary job.
19:19Till the spring comes and we can really thaw her out and fix these pipes for real.
19:27You really appreciate your showers after you go digging under your house to find a new one.
19:32I'm sure you do.
19:33I'm sure you do.
19:34I'm sure you do.
19:35I'm sure you do.
19:36I'm sure you do.
19:37I'm sure you do.
19:38I'm sure you do.
19:39I'm sure you do.
19:40I'm sure you do.
19:41I'm sure you do.
19:42I'm sure you do.
19:43I even cried under your house to fix the frozen pipes.
19:51Stinking old po-boy.
20:02This paint is so old and dry, I can literally just flick it off.
20:13It's a cute little green tub underneath this rickety old cracky blue paint to replace it
20:39with maybe a cloth foot tub.
20:42That would be so nice.
20:54Finally that tub is clear, the drain is flowing, the paint is stripped off as much as I could
21:00get off today and this is going to be really nice.
21:03I feel some little bit of pampering going on here, just washing my body up with some
22:09water.
22:10Ah, the boys are here, right on time, morning boys, how's it going young fella, old peachy.
22:37Boy there's a bit of ice last night, Smitty you're still not wearing a hat today, no,
22:57now we're getting cold, no I won't be cold, snow's already building up on your hair, won't
23:06be cold today.
23:07Wait until she gets 55 or 60, your collar rolls in when she gets that age.
23:12Alright my love.
23:13Love you, have fun.
23:14Get em.
23:36All we need is us and them little birds is about it.
24:06I think the other one is a curl I think, I don't know if it's a curl or a wing, I don't
24:27know.
24:28There you go, two on the board boys, better than running your back of the boat, better
24:57than running.
24:58Another one.
24:59There he is.
25:00Oh my god.
25:01Geez Louise, that's a good one.
25:30Geez Louise.
25:31Calling me f***ing, what do you call it, John Dwayne, John Dwayne Jr.
25:39Don't worry about it, I've got two in here.
25:42As long as you get them boys, don't matter how much air you have in the boat.
25:45Don't worry about it.
25:46We'll have ice today.
25:47I was right in her back yard the whole time Gord.
25:54I don't know.
26:00The thing is we come down we never see nothing but.
26:06Wait till what?
26:08Wait till we get it.
26:13Do you want to get first?
26:16This is about a haul.
26:19Get that door open.
26:21It's back open.
26:23It's fired.
26:24Yes sir.
26:25Double.
26:26Double.
26:27We're into it now, yep.
26:28We're into it now, yep.
26:37Well, yeah, I tell ya, once you get into the birds, birds are great, because there's so much shooting.
26:41That's for Ronnie then, he's good to go.
27:03Yeah, he's getting clear.
27:07Thirsty boys.
27:17Oh my god, that was good.
27:27That's it, man. Once he gets to go, they're right here in front of you.
27:33Still a run there.
27:53Is that turds or bull birds?
27:55Bull birds.
27:57Turd down there.
27:59Turd right there.
28:01Get her now, Gordie boy.
28:05Newfie paradise, you ask me.
28:07Looking much better than this.
28:09Another one out there?
28:11Is that a turd or a bull bird?
28:13Turd there.
28:17There you go.
28:19Oh, that's a flabbergast.
28:21Oh, we got a few birds.
28:23Perfect.
28:25Something for the pot tonight.
28:27Kelly's first meal of turd too.
28:29Oh yeah, you know, all this is her first off.
28:31She's never tried turd before.
28:59A little bit too oily.
29:19Come on, Gordie.
29:23Oh, I think that's a puffing guard.
29:45There's our bull.
29:47She's having us.
29:53Looking better.
29:55I'm going to give her a turn around.
30:17We had a runner.
30:27We had a runner.
30:51Oh, you got him.
31:07Runner now, boys.
31:13Good shot, Smitty.
31:41See the water flying in there?
31:44There's two right there.
31:47There's two right alongside of us there.
31:52There he is.
31:55Nice.
32:09Oh, Ronnie likes that.
32:11Holy shit, boys.
32:12What do you got?
32:22Oh.
32:24What is it, Ron?
32:39Yeah.
32:43Yeah, we should, yeah.
32:46I'll do that.
32:47Do you got a pan I can use or are you all booked out?
32:53You just sit down now.
32:54He's taking over now.
32:56I can take over.
32:57I can take over.
32:58You sit back now.
33:00You're cooking it off now.
33:03Take a rest, old girl.
33:05You know.
33:09Oh, yeah.
33:15Everybody.
33:19Oh, yes.
33:20Definitely.
33:27I think you're right, Smitty.
33:29I'd say the $400 frying pan full.
33:32If you're a liver lover, that is one of the best.
33:35Yes.
33:49Ronnie wants some liver.
33:51Guaranteed.
33:54My son.
33:55What a feed.
34:07All right, Kelly.
34:09First liver, let's go.
34:11Oh, I'm nervous.
34:13Never had liver before.
34:15Any liver?
34:17Any liver.
34:18This is your first liver, liver ever.
34:20Holy smokes.
34:21And the first liver is going to be a terror.
34:29Drive.
34:31Drive it in, you old girl.
34:33I'm sorry.
34:39Oh.
34:45We're all waiting.
34:48I can eat it.
34:51Ronnie, let's try some.
34:52Uh-huh.
34:58Terrible liver bite.
35:02It is seafood-y.
35:05That's good.
35:06You don't like that?
35:07It's not that bad.
35:08I just couldn't swallow it.
35:09I took a really tiny piece, too.
35:11I think it's a mental thing.
35:17Mm-hmm.
35:18Take some more of that.
35:21That's a good one.
35:22Promise.
35:35Give me another piece of that terror liver, boys.
35:38For God's sake, someone give me a piece of that terror liver.
35:44Oh.
36:08What are you doing, man?
36:20What are you doing?
36:34I wrote this song back down south in Virginia.
36:53This is called Save Your Bullets.
36:54Here we go.
36:56Share and save your bullets, I'm riding through
36:59Three days shy of 22
37:02I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:05I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:08I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:11I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:14I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:17I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:20I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:23I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:26I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:29I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:32I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:35I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:38I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:41I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:44I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:47I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:50I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:53I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:56I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
37:59I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
38:02I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
38:05I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
38:08I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
38:11I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
38:14I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
38:17Through the night on a dusty trail
38:20The money she needed was riding the rails
38:26The money she needed was riding the rails
38:36Well Sheriff, save your bullets I'm riding through
38:39Three days shy of twenty-two
38:42I'm a hotshot shooter called Virginia
38:45Got a bounty it takes a Cincinnati stick to
38:53Save your bullets I'm riding through
39:02Rode to a town south of Alamo
39:05Ruffed up rambler tipped his hat real low
39:08His seating disguise was the look in his eyes
39:12He sent me riding to the fire line, oh
39:19He sent me riding to the fire line, oh
39:28Well, Sarah Flaker, bullet time riding through
39:32Three days, I hit 22
39:35I'm a hot shot shooter called Virginia Blue
39:39I got a bounty in Texas and Tennessee too, oh
39:46Savior, bullet time riding through, oh
39:53Savior, bullet time coming for you, oh
40:09So good, Kelly. Whoo! I know, I know.
40:25I was gone there for a sec too. That is unreal.
40:29Can you believe that Kelly wrote that?
40:31I have no idea where this woman came from.
40:34She can work, fix tubs, cook, clean, love,
40:37and write her own music like that.
40:40I know, there's a good reason I'm wifing her up.
40:45So good, Kelly. Thank you.
40:56This is the night before posting the video.
40:58This is Saturday night.
41:00So tomorrow morning this video goes live.
41:02It's been a busy week out here.
41:04We haven't stopped, as you can imagine.
41:06We've been trying to pay attention to comments as much as possible.
41:08Sifting through them, we thought it might be a good idea
41:11that each week we can try to answer some of the questions.
41:14Some of the popular ones, anyway.
41:16Miss Kelly already went on the comments
41:21and took down a bunch of comments.
41:24You guys asked, what's the history of the house?
41:27History of the house, I mean this is all from what I learned
41:31from word of mouth as I came here from the people that's around here.
41:34This house is about 100 years old, maybe just a little bit older
41:37from what we understand.
41:39It was built just like all the rest of Newfoundland homes
41:42with the traditional building.
41:44All the logs for the boards that were built here
41:46was apparently dragged down from a hill over there somewhere
41:49by a fella and one dog named Prince.
41:52That's how the story goes.
41:54And all those logs were milled into the boards that built this house.
41:58It's changed hands multiple times,
42:00but this is one of maybe three or four.
42:03That is the originals from down here in St. Joseph's
42:06that never got resettled.
42:08So this is a little piece of history if you ask me.
42:12This survived the resettlement.
42:14What are the long term plans for Saltbox?
42:17Really in short, the long term plan for this place is
42:20to make it our forever home.
42:22We're going to fix this place up to its original or better condition.
42:25Keep adding on to make it better and better for ourselves
42:28or what we need.
42:30Gardens, animals, friends.
42:32Just live it, enjoy it.
42:34Just stay here forever.
42:36Why would you want to leave?
42:38I know these videos make it look good, but it is good.
42:41Trust me, this place actually is paradise.
42:44I've been to a lot of places and this is it.
42:47There's love at first sight.
42:49Why did people who once lived here on the island leave?
42:52That's a good question because most people aren't newbies
42:55who are watching this video.
42:57Back in the day, I don't know, it was the 50s at some point,
43:00the government basically came in and did its big resettlement project.
43:03There's a lot more back story on that, but long story short,
43:07they were trying to build a province.
43:10They had to bring all these airports in and basically get everyone
43:13to come into cities to have work and build factories
43:18and whatever other bullshit they sold everyone.
43:21It was one of the biggest migrations of people in Canada
43:26of all time.
43:28One of them was here in Newfoundland.
43:30There's thousands and thousands of people in places just like here
43:33in St. Joseph's that were uprooted and told to go somewhere else.
43:37A lot of them took their homes with them.
43:39That's why there's only a few homes left here original.
43:42Some of them fell down of age, but a lot of them got dragged
43:45into the water and they pulled them back to the mainland
43:48wherever they were supposed to go and resettle.
43:51There's a whole lot more to that story.
43:54In short, the resettlement happened and the fishery dropped out.
43:58Do some research on it. Do some Googling.
44:00It's a very interesting and very tragic story.
44:03What happened here in Newfoundland is actually not very well known,
44:06so I would encourage anyone to go and Google it.
44:08Do we have internet here?
44:10Yes, we have internet here. We have Starlink.
44:12That is how we are uploading these videos.
44:15It's really fast, actually, very fast.
44:18All you've got to do is turn the generator on, give it some power.
44:21Four minutes later, we got internet anywhere in Canada.
44:24It's pretty amazing.
44:25Any plans for a water pump system?
44:28People are seeing us in the water well and how much work it is.
44:30It is a lot of work, hauling water.
44:32Wintertime, it's probably going to be like that.
44:35Wintertime, it's going to be hauling water.
44:37Summertime is a different story.
44:38Once summer gets here, we can set up a gravity feed water system
44:41from a high spring that's up much higher than the house
44:45and run a long, long line all the way to here
44:48and gravity feed water into the house.
44:50Kitchen sink taps will work.
44:51A toilet will refill.
44:53And then when freeze-up happens and winter comes,
44:55I'll disconnect that so it doesn't freeze
44:57and go back to hauling with buckets.
44:59Any other ones you really...
45:01Top of your head.
45:02We didn't write down.
45:03Are there any other people on the island?
45:05Are there any other people on the island?
45:07That was a common question.
45:08Yes.
45:09There is.
45:11Wintertime, this winter, we're the only full-time residents here on the island.
45:14Summertime, like when I showed up in that first video,
45:17there's lots of people coming and going.
45:19A lot of these are homes and cabins
45:21that were passed down through generations
45:23and people love this place.
45:25All the cabin owners and the families from here
45:27still love this place and they come back.
45:29So summertime is actually pretty busy,
45:31which is lovely because everyone out here is great
45:34and there's lots of people to socialize with
45:36and talk to and hang out.
45:37And also all the skippers around here have so much knowledge.
45:41I mean, you think we know what we're doing
45:43watching these videos?
45:45Some of these old boys, they got the knowledge.
45:48Yeah, we'll try to answer a few more questions again next week.
45:51Can't say enough.
45:53Scoats, how much I appreciate everyone taking time to watch,
45:56to share this, to comment.
45:58We love you and we really enjoy making these videos for you
46:02and it feels good to share this one.
46:06This is one that we're very passionate about
46:08and I'm really into.
46:09So thank you.
46:10Thank you, Scoats.
46:12See you next week.
46:13See you Sunday.
46:14Love you all.
46:15Love you guys.
46:17Bye.