 Good morning! Yeah, we're here. Yep, we'll be done. Okay, awesome. See you soon. This is our cabin, where we've been living without modern-day luxuries, like electricity and water. We're working towards being self-sustaining off-grid. Now they can get in! Let's go! Today is the day that we get the foundation for our 10 kilowatt solar array. Fingers crossed, we have no problems getting screwpiles in the ground. As you all know, our terrain is pretty rocky. We're all here for the show. This is all of our first time watching screwpiles go into the earth. Are you excited? Yep. It could take a while, because we do have some pretty rocky terrain out here, so we'll see how it goes. You think it's gonna work? Hopefully. This could be the most exciting day of my life, or not at all. Could be the worst the worst day ever. That's what you call a rock. That's a big rock. That's a big rock. That's a big rock. Definitely a little bit of a spooky start. Hitting rocks already on the first screwpile. Might not be a good sign. Well, that is a small car. It did not turn out as we thought it would when we woke up this morning. We were very excited to see some screwpiles go into the earth, and they've left. They're on their way out, and that's because this terrain is far too rocky for these screwpiles. When I'm talking rocks, we're talking, this could be the bedrock. We don't even know. These boulders are so big, it just doesn't look like they have an end almost. We do have options, but it's a lot to think about. A lot to think about. We're just not there yet. Come back to this another day, I guess. Literally. We had a feeling this could happen. We knew it was a possibility, but we can still maybe do the post. It just really depends. We need to weigh out all our options, call around, price around, talk around, figure out what we want to do. Today, we are going to be bopping around the yard once again, going from the back of the house to the garden area. Right now, Porter is actually digging the trench as we are going to be putting a French drain down there. Also, this is really cool because not only is the water going to not cool here anymore and go into the forest, but we are actually going to be planting a berry garden on that side of the house. Well, Porter doesn't need us right now. We can't all fit in the expater. So I'm going to go over there and start helping Christa. Well, when one project doesn't go as planned, there are many others to choose from, and our goal is to turn this area into a beautiful garden. So we are self-sustaining and eating our own food. Behind me, last week, we planted all these beautiful tomato plants. We are going to go ahead and build with the rest of what we have now, and we're going to hope that we're going to get some more wood in this week, and we can continue this dream garden. Whoa, yo, give it a walk on the runway through the garden. Let's go. Come on. Boom, boom, boom, tomato. So this right here is Porter's little machine. It has replaced Crystal and I, so he no longer needs our help. Basically, it allows him to know the exact level. Porter goes with his little pole, and he can tell exactly where it's level. So this is going to make sure that the slope of the trench is perfect for runoff. Pretty cool. Week by week surprises me just how much we can learn and how many new things and techniques that we can do out here to make living out here better. So we're doing a French drain as Jasmine explained to you, and it's such a simple, traditional way of diverting water away into another area, and it's so effective. It's no more than a trench, some rocks, and a couple of pipes, really. So all the water, like you can see, just pools right here. So now it can drain straight into this perforated pipe, the next perforated pipe, and then it just goes all the way into the forest where our berry bushes are. Away from the cabin, away from the deck, and all of the materials here into the woods. That's the way to do it. Have to say this morning, woke up, didn't know we were going to have French drain. All of a sudden we have one. It's so cool that I got to be able to learn how to do a French drain. Like, the knowledge you learn out here is absolutely wild. I love learning these skills. So cool. All right, back to your favorite area. Oh, yeah, no. Just listen. Seriously, who needs a tank? It's hard work. Should have seen the way they were taking those off the truck. Can't even carry half of one. Well, it just did. Some real good work there. It was in every box we made. Anything we're doing, bear. Do you love the rectangle? What a character. Just sit down. Sit down, man. I can't run. I saw it right away. I saw it. I can't build the rest of the garden. All right, do you want to elevate? I think you're done. Oh my God, no. What was I doing? I don't know. I think I just jumped off, but then I had a huge stone. Did you jump off? Yeah. And then I hit a stone and it just rolled. Yeah. Her whole skin looks a little greeny-yellow. Oh, gosh. Ready to cough. It hurts so much here. It feels like shaking. Yeah, it hurts a lot. Oh, man. That was a good one. Just keep your foot in the marker. It's really cold. It's really nice. Do you want ice right now? Do you want to go elevate? Soon. I'm going to go over there soon. Just relax. Take a deep breath. I'm going to watch that back now. I'm going to watch it right now. And still is I. Ready, everyone? Everyone's laughing just as hard as I am. Well, it still hurts, you know? It's like a laugh cry still. We don't know what's going on. Oh, it's good footage though. Okay, I've had enough. I'm going to hop around for a little bit. No, no. You're going to the couch. Crystal's the worst to make Chell. She'll be puking sick and she'll be like, all right, so where are we going today? I'm like, you're going to bed. No. That sucks, eh? Ready to get carried? No, I'm not. I'm moving right now. I'll get there. I'm just going to see you later. See you later, everyone. Thanks, honey. Welcome. How are you feeling? Like breakfast. I'm okay. I'm bored. Bored already, you know? She bad. She bad. Just like annoying. Like you can't do anything. It's also the driving foot. This is my driving foot. But if you make me crutches out of the way we have in the stockpile and you just put little towels out of you, I could get to town. Challenge accepted. You have to drive. It's fine. It's a good day to be heard though because rain. I want to show you all the French drain. We've got to rake it out a bit, but look at that. There is no water anymore here. Wow. That is so nice to see. It's kind of ironic that today it's been raining on and off all day. I can no longer walk and I have my therapy appointment this evening, which is a really good thing and a huge relief because I'm sitting here and now that I'm bedridden, I'm starting to stress out about how quickly winter is approaching and all of the things we have to do. I'm itching to get out of this bed. I've been taking therapy for a while now and my therapist gives me tips and tools to help me in stressful situations. Thank you to BetterHelp for sponsoring this week's video. That's Better H-E-L-P. BetterHelp is customized online therapy, which means I can phone live session or video chat or even message my therapist right here from the woods or today from my bed. I don't have to leave. If you're feeling stressed, depressed, overwhelmed or anxious, BetterHelp is here to help. Within 48 hours, you can connect with your therapist and send unlimited messages. You brushed your hair. They look nice. Not only do you connect with your therapist quick, but BetterHelp actually makes it easier to jive with your therapist. So basically when I started, I filled out a form which was basically what I wanted in a therapist and then they matched me up and I love Pamela. But also if you don't drive right away, which I think could be really rare with this questionnaire, you can request a new therapist, which is always good because you need to feel safe when you're in therapy and that's the number one goal. Join the 2 million plus people who have taken charge of their mental health with an experienced BetterHelp therapist. Go to betterhelp.com forward slash vanwives and get 10% off your first month. That was my shoulder. How's your ankle? It's good. It's getting better. I mean, elevation and ice, I know for sure it's not broken, but it is for sure sprained. We've rewatched the video and laughed extremely hard at both the twist and my reaction, but also you singing to Izzy in the UTV. Hilarious and these things definitely happen. Super disappointed we can't finish the garden beds this week because that was obviously the goal and it's hard. It's hard to chill and just to put your foot up and elevate it and ice it. It's hard to get her to chill. Like I'm literally constantly like stop hopping around, just chill. I don't know how. If this was me, I'd be chilling on Netflix all day. I haven't watched single Netflix. You can't chill. No, I can't. It's so annoying having to sit still. So Crystal's had a lot of downtime. She decided to do a questionnaire on Instagram. Also we've asked our patrons and we've noticed a lot of comments lately asking, what are y'all doing out there? It's been a while since we've done this and we've sat down and let me tell you, this is going to be one steamy Q and A, not only because of the questions, but also because we're roasting out here. Question number one, do you prefer van life or cabin life? I would say they're both extremely different. As much as they are similar for us, they are also so different. When we're here, we're constantly tending to things. There's projects on the go. I like cabin life better personally. It's just different. We're creating our own home out here and there's so many components. Whereas van life is exploration. It's travel. It's meeting people. We aren't doing that here. They're different. I like them for different reasons. I do feel though after many years of van life, we've lived on the road for four years. For a long time. We've really settled into the cabin. Will we go travel in the van again? Maybe. Yes, 100% one day, but not right now. Not right now, but not for long periods of time. Also the girls. Oh yeah. That's a big factor. The girls are getting older now. That brings us into another question. I'm sure a lot of people have asked how old Bell and Izzy are. Yes, Bella's nine Izzy is eight. Yeah. So they are getting older and like those long drives and just not having a place really to call theirs like a backyard where they can just like go and chill. I think being in Mexico this winter, we really noticed and it's something I don't really know if I want to put them through a very long periods of time anymore. Yeah, we have noticed they've also settled in at the cabin and they do seem so content. They just wander around without leashes or collars and sleep under the trees and it's a really beautiful thing. Go swimming in the river, the lake, and Bella's got all the rocks here. So do you get scared at night? The only time I would ever get spooked is like if we were out here and I was like say walking to the outhouse or walking out here at night and Bella just starts barking that might scare me. It's more her bark. She barks at random things that just fly by. They're very protective. A twig. I don't know. We haven't seen anything but apparently we're in the honeymoon stage for animals so they're gonna find us soon and they're never gonna leave. Yeah and then we'll have to start protecting our crops and yeah that's why we don't have any fences up yet because we have a little bit of time. So if you look at the aerial shots of the cabin there is so much land for them for the wildlife to roam. There's lots of wild habitat. They are not, they don't feel the need to be here when they hear the dogs and hear us. Like there's just so much forest for the animals to be. That being said people have seen bears in the area like Justin said where you are in the honeymoon stage. There is potential for them to be wandering this way but the dogs do I would have to say probably keep them away. Also we don't pick up our dog poo. Yeah. So that way they smell the dogs and then it's just there. So if you ever come over and watch your feet one is the garage getting here. We've been waiting on that for a long time. It's over a month due hence why we like flatten that pad got it already so fast but it's just the way the world right now. You can't really, I mean we've got plenty of other projects so it really doesn't matter. Sure it would help a lot but It's kind of the story with a lot of the things though like things are just simply taking longer and so we're just rolling with the punches. That's why you know one week we're doing something that may not seem of priority but that's just because we're waiting on materials. The only thing you can do at this point. Looking back on all the projects are there any jobs you wish you hired out rather than doing yourself? Uh yeah the roof. Actually no I would probably not do another roof. I would avoid it. I would try to avoid it however you save literally so much money doing it yourself. The first side went amazing. The second side went amazing too. It's just there was a second side and we had to be up there. Heights it just I don't they make me get in a really bad mood to be honest because I'm like scared so at first I'm scared and then out comes frustration. Yeah there was a lot of fear. It's about being aware about that though and I think I wasn't aware about that before but now that I've taken therapy I'm more aware of that so it's true. It's true. Awareness but like I think if I did a roof now knowing myself more and like how I react I think I could do it better but it was really challenging. But I would say that like 90 percent of the time we enjoy doing things ourselves because it always goes better. We have we then know how things are working how they're running etc etc because living out this far if something ever were to happen we kind of need to know how to do it on our own. We have to. Calling people out here is not very easy. No one wants to come which I kind of understand. Yeah so it's always been a priority for us to do it ourselves and to learn because that's where we feel the most alive I would say. Yeah I would be so disappointed if I didn't say I'd laid my own roof or I drove an excavator or I'd do anything. It's all about doing it you know you've got to do it. It's very empowering. No. Do you plan on living in the cabin year round if so do you plan on getting a plow? Great question. We want to live here year round. Without a doubt we want this place to be four seasons. We want it to be accessible for even our family and our friends. And I just want to see it in all four seasons. I think it's such a special thing that we get to see all four seasons and to see this cabin in it it will just be amazing. My mom's calling. Okay. Hello I'm just filming a Q&A can I call you right back? Winter however is very long and it can be intimidating when you're living off-grid and this far out being this remote. We need to plan and actually we have quite a few stages and steps that we need to accomplish before the snow falls. Yeah it's actually very dangerous if we don't complete these steps to stay. Like very dangerous. Like not just challenging like it can be dangerous. Like it can't be safe sometimes if we didn't get these steps done. Yeah. Due to the roads. Yeah you want to be prepared because you have to. You can't be driving in and out of here all the time as if you do in the summer. You need to take your time and you need to have like water, electricity, the correct amount of firewood. Like there's just so many things to think about. How did you meet and how long have you been together? Oh I love that question. A whole hand? High five. Pretty soon it'll be 10 but it's just five. Five years. Just kidding you can have your hand. Five years. Almost six. Um and we met at work actually. Serving. Yep. That's what we did before this. Slinging pies. Pizza. Pizza pies. Yeah pizza pies. And yeah we were just we were friends first and we just got along really well and we just it just happened really like that. It clicked. It was one night. The stars aligned. They did align. Well to be honest I was like hey Jesse you want to go out? And she was like yeah maybe and so we flipped a coin. It landed on heads. I went out. The rest is history. The rest is history. Next question. How do you find downtime to connect as a couple with all the work going on? That is such a good question. That is something that we are constantly talking about and working on. We probably talk about it once a week and I think actually the most important thing when it comes to that question is having open communication with your partner because our communication is so open and we're constantly vocal about things going on in our own lives and together as a couple. It's just important to put the camera down. Like for instance that's why we didn't film those eight days. Like yeah it wasn't just us two. It was us and friends and family but it's really important to know that you can't just shoot at all you know. Boundaries, creating boundaries are very important. Things are changing constantly. There's different chapters in everyone's lives and you know sometimes things are more challenging than others. So they adapt with the week but we don't have a magic answer. We don't. I wish. I cast this spell on all of you. What part of the interior are you most excited to renovate? Kitchen. Yeah. I can't wait to be excited to cook again. Like to be honest I'm dreading like cutting any vegetable in there because I don't even have a counter. You have like the fridge and the stove now but which is amazing. Without the water dishes and things like are complicated like it's just not it's like we're rough in it. Yeah it's 100%. It'll be really great to be able to focus on nourishing our bodies and having the space or environment to do it. What are you most surprised about living off grid in the forest? I would say the thing that surprises me most about living out here is what it does for me mentally and physically and I'm not surprised by that but but I do think that it's important to be in nature more and that's what surprises me I guess is just like sometimes how much we all lack just simply taking a walk down to the river or a walk in the woods or just finding yourself out here it's really good for mental and physical health and so that kind of surprises me a little bit. I guess what surprised me the most is how many steps there are involved in every single thing. That's true. Because I've never built anything other than a van and a skateboard ramp. What is your process for learning something you've never done before? Go on the internet. Becoming interested to begin with. Oh great you're a teacher that is interest. Yes. Passion. Yeah. Cool star. Expressing interest in anything out here is the first step like the second we want or think about something then we begin the researching process and yeah yeah research books obviously help but the online world is so amazing. YouTube like Reddit forums any type of like that. I don't know I like going to those things because I feel like you get more real world experience of someone that did something this way and be like it didn't last. Yeah also community we often reach out in our videos and ask questions people respond to them in the comments that helps us so much because the people who are responding are speaking from experience and that's amazing. Asking people in your community because everyone has different environments so the way someone does something in Florida or someone does something in California in Australia or Australia like with termites and stuff like that's a big one is completely different than how we do it here so I think like talking to your community here really really helps. Do you ever get discouraged at being so isolated if so what pushes you through? That is something that I would say we have never experienced until this month actually we've never really felt like this feeling of like isolation or want for like to be closer to a city or to like our group of people friends and family. We were at Pride in Toronto that my mom was here and just like being around the ones you love the most is just like it's such a great feeling so when we came back here and it just was us too we were like it was an adjustment we're like what are we doing for the first time ever first time ever yeah it's inevitable like humans need other humans so I think as soon as we get this place like more up and running like I just can't wait to have everyone in here like let's all go that's what I'm yeah let's just everyone come on out that's the all 275 thousand we are invited to the cabin in the woods okay I'm dripping jazz are you sweating come on are you cold off yet you would hate me if I did that to you or even what project are you most looking forward to electricity do you enjoy content creation and do you see yourself continuing it continuing it for some time such a good question absolutely there's nothing we love more than being in this space creating content since the beginning it's just been so fulfilling like absolutely love every aspect to it yeah there's not a part that we don't enjoy and I never want to stop making videos and I never thought we would be making videos and that we love it this much is like it just shows it just like proves that you can literally find so many passions anytime of your life because I didn't even know how to work a camera or if you didn't have anything we didn't own one and we're very private people I never imagined myself putting my life online and sharing what I do private on Instagram and I didn't have a YouTube channel so it's it's interesting to now be in this place where we are sharing so much so thankful that we are so thankful I would never change anything let's keep creating so as long as you all keep watching we'll be here okay Sunday 9 30 a.m. EST appreciate all of you subscribe what is the surface area slash size of your property we have 15 acres one thing you love about each other that's a really cute question I'm gonna start because I know what I love about you I love so many things but what I would say like the one thing I love so much about Jasmine is her drive her want her energy to just do and keep going for example moving into the van like she just went for it she just goes for it inspires me so much to do the same it's only because I listened to her though like she was telling me like what her dream life would look like and she want to be like a world traveler and I was like how can you make this dream come crystal's reality and my reality because I really like this and I had docs and I was like how do we travel docs and then I just did some research found kit whistler and said van life I love crystals heart that like whenever anyone is here not only does she love ballad is he and I so much but when anyone's here she always puts everyone like first and like is just the best person to everyone she meets and also like your heart is just so pure you just never judge or about anyone like you're constantly just like a good human so sweet are you crying you'd never know no what you want to see are like you just like you see everyone as like a wholesome human and you just treat them everyone like equally because that's what we are we're all just humans walking this planet and you're just you're so open to everyone and you make everyone feel like safe hardest and best part about building a cabin in the woods the best part is just all the skills that we're learning and also like the bond that we're creating with each other I think is really is really neat because I mean if we can get through this together we can really just get through anything together the hardest part about being off-grid and building the cabin is the entire thing itself being off-grid and doing living this way is very challenging yeah and I answered this the other day on instagram the best part is how the worst parts make us feel you know all of those challenges and moments of vulnerability and you don't have electricity you don't have heat or you don't have a bathroom at all yeah they what so that's why we were so excited about the outhouse everyone you know haven't had a bathroom so all of those things though like all of those challenges and vulnerabilities they just provide you they make you grow they make you stronger and that's the most beautiful thing about this lifestyle is the uncomfortable moments make you a better person so that's what I would say well said how long are you planning to live at your cabin I would love to live here forever I think that the more time that we spend here and the more energy that we put into the projects the more the more we never want to leave yeah like when we were going through that thing at prod we were like oh I'm gonna be closer to friends and family but then like after three days we were like how do we ever think that like we're like no it's just perfect it's so perfect they should all just come up here yeah but that won't happen I would say that we want to keep this place forever and forever I don't know if we'll necessarily live here forever and ever because we like constant change and challenges but I'm sure there'll be a time in our life where we'll want to see something else or be somewhere else but this will always be our home base and our heart I imagine our first actual house that stands on ground not wheels with that let's get this healed so we can build some fun projects there's lots to come yeah and I hope you enjoyed the Q&A I hope that we answered the majority of the questions you have this has been a long time since we've done something like this if you liked it please let us know because this is something we could do on a six months or yearly basis I know a lot of people have questions so it feels good to dance with them I have questions what are your questions when is your ankle gonna get better I want to build just kidding I'm kidding everyone it's just a sprain it'll get better soon okay bye we love you all see you next time bye yeah this is awkward oh yeah we're good oh the crocs the crocs