 It's going to be a good few weeks for me. I can just say that. This is why you need professionals. One little tap, there would literally be a hole through that cabin. Water, lands, water, water, water! Summer! We're Jazz and Crystal. And these are two dogs, Bella and Izzy. This is our cabin in the remote Canadian woods. We're pouring our hearts into this land as we continue to tackle major renovations as amateur builders. For us, having modern day luxuries, such as running water or electricity, don't come without breaking a sweat. We're tackling the groundwork for both of these at the same time. Join us as we finish the area for the garage and the solar array. And at last, one of the biggest moves yet. We're digging a four-foot deep trench to run lines to have water in the cabin. Hey, cuddle. It's another beautiful day. All right, time to get the day started. In order for us to get off-grid power to the cabin, we are starting from the ground up, literally. Last week, we started clearing and leveling the land for the solar array and the future garage where our batteries, inverters, and solar charge controllers will be stored. These are the first steps to clean energy here in the woods. This is also the start of a whirlwind of a few weeks. So much will be changing. Walk, my supervisors. All right, looks like I'm a little bit late to work. Compared to my other coworker, she's been in the excavator for 45 minutes. We have a big day today as the next couple of days are our last days at the excavator and we have a lot to still get done. I mean, you did an amazing job flattening it, so now I'm just kind of compacting it. Yeah, and the whole thing slopes this way. So I'm trying to just pull the top layer this way and build this up more. That's why you're the flattener and I'm the destroyer. Thanks, boss. Have a nice day. All right, now we're on track. Excavator leaving in a couple of days. Porter is also coming tomorrow. That means we need to have all of these areas completely leveled, cleared, excavated. That way, when he's hauling all day for us tomorrow, he's not wasting any time and we're making big moves. Well, that's as fast as it can be. Good job. It looks super nice. Yep, I'm really happy with it. It's gonna be good. The walk flies are out. Just embrace it. You live in the woods. It's the price you pay. This is the price we pay for a few weeks of this. Oh, they're bad. But they like me. They don't like you. Of course you can say that. Our bosses made us this. This is for real girls. It's a lot of work. Making mom's work. Next on the to-do list is the solar field. This needs to be completely excavated and basically look like that. If you've been following along the last few weeks, you'll know that we've been pouring a lot of time and energy into what will be the garage and what will be the solar field. Both of these things have a lot of preparation before we even begin the project. Taking down the trees was not so bad, but the more challenging part and that we really sweat our butts off for was the cleanup. Cutting up all of the trees that will be firewood, sorting through the brush and the kindling, that was a challenge that we did not expect. And it was really good feeling and it really felt like this is what it means to live off grid. It's not easy and it's so much work. So Jasmine is essentially doing the last step where she's taking out all of the roots and the trunks of the trees and that way we can start pouring the fill in. Very exciting meeting that we're just steps closer to being able to get these projects going that will eventually allow us to move inside of the cabin. Looking good. It's looking great. We're gonna need about 10 loads of fill on this side, Porter. You think? No. That went pretty far already. So we have one load of fill dropped over there. Jasmine spread it all out here so that way she can get in here and finish taking out all the logs and the stumps from this side. You're almost halfway there, lady. Yeah, but it needs to be more level. Like, look at the slope, I'm falling. Oh yeah, you'll get there though. I mean, it's cool to see this like this though versus this. I also do think that it won't be a big issue with how soft it is here because once we get all this fill in here, should be a lot easier to manage and there's just posts going in. We're not doing like some sort of foundation or pad or anything, just some posts going screw piles. New technology. Yeah. Super cool. It's essentially like a sonotube so it can hold a ton of weight, but they're really... However, you can also like re-tighten them over the years. So if this area does start to slope, you can just come in and... Are you eating the bugs or is it just me? Look at you go. No hands. Supervisor never strays too far. Hey, Vala. Just making sure we're doing things right. Let me tell ya. Well, today's turned into a gorgeous day, isn't it, Izzy? Not a bad job being a supervisor. Now we have to clean up that mess, this mess, but that's firewood and this mess. So basically, Porter needs access to the parking pad to drive his dump truck in and dump the fill. And we have a mess right in front of it. This is a lot easier to have these in a pile. That way when I pick it up with the excavator, they're all horizontal and I don't have another tree go right through my windshield. Also, they don't mess up the sod. So maybe black bugs. Be one. Be one with them. You are not in a good mood from the bugs. No, they bug me a lot. Like, they just bite me so much. They're all around me. You just gotta... It's not gonna be a good few weeks for me. I can just... I already say that. You're so crusty right now. I really am. Like, I should obviously get my freaking bug suit on. Quusty crystal out again to play. Hey, Darren, we're here at Chainsaw, baby. This whole area was so clogged with, like, then I had to tighten the chain, I think, as well. I don't think there is anything better than a cold smoothie on a hot day. No way. Enjoy. Did you dig another hole? Mm-hmm. I figured it'd be more efficient to dig a hole, dump all of those roots into there, because that soil is, like, black soil member. It's, like, really nutrient, so I'm thinking if we put all of that in there over time, we're just gonna decompose, and that's where we can get our soil when we need to plant. Nice. And what a better way to get rid of fil. No better way. That's what decks were made for. That's what smoothies were made for. Hot days. Mm, it is good. It's a good one. I know. There's your front yard. I never thought we'd be here. It's been a while to get to this point, eh? Wow. And no more trees are coming down, so that really means the entire area is clear. Oh, I forgot a little brush pile. Oopsie. It looks amazing, though. Like, it looks so good. I'm so glad that's almost done. Ready for solar. Holy. Not quite. Oh, yeah. A few more steps. Border. But that looks amazing. This looks amazing. There's just like a few little logs here and there. That's nothing. Nothing. We're almost there. Good job. You killed it. You too. Jaz, you hear that? Sounds like a truck. It might be border, right? Last night was the first night we slept without the wood fired, so. Oh, yeah. It's warm still. We didn't eat the stones. Summer. Wow, what a song. It's your friend, Porter. Run. We just rolled out of bed. Good morning. I need you to move that tree. There's literally no other way. I'd rather wake up than to roll out of bed and hop in the truck in the excavator. It's going to be an exciting few days around here. The enthusiasm will come once I get my coffee. Are you starting to spread in there? It's my duty. Excavator operator? Yeah, this is awesome. I love to see it. First donuts, now it's moving. You're really trying to win them over, right? Good morning. It's a warm 27 degrees Celsius today in Nova Scotia, Canada here at the cabin. We couldn't ask for better weather and I'm so happy. Everything is so alive, including the black flies, the mosquitoes, and all the bugs that bite. But aside from those, spring is in full action and summer is on the way. Porter just dropped the very first load of gravel. He's off to go get another one. As he does that, I will be spreading it with the excavator behind me. And that just makes for the best flow and gets the most on throughout the day. I'm finally ready for work. Crystal's already been flattening the entire area. Are you an excavator operator? This is incredible. I want to be a little bit raised so that way when the water runs off the roof, it runs off of the pad. Do you know what I mean? You beat Porter. I beat him. I beat him. Thank you, Porter. Probably all wondering why we're so excited for gravel. But that's because it's been two weeks in the making of getting this area prepped and ready for our garage. So number two, Porter said, who's leveling this? And I said, I am. I said, why? I'm thinking he's not going to say something good. I said, you're doing a lot better than last year. Yeah. Where's your energy? Lost the lead. So we're stirring it up today. Our life is a little bit chaotic. Thanks, A.G.1, for sponsoring this week's video. Between chainsawing and excavating, we're running around the land, and A.G.1 is a simple pick-me-up in between all of it. The truth is, and probably all of you can relate to what I'm about to say, is that everyone's a busybody these days. And A.G.1 by Athletic Greens is made for no matter what path you're walking in life. It's made for class. It's made for in-between meetings. It's made for when the kids are down for the busy weekends running errands and any moment in between. 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It's going to be great. You know how long we've been trying to get these stumps out of the ground? And he just goes in. They're out. He's removing them right now. He's a pro. Like, I spent an hour on those stumps. Excavators actually look like dinosaurs. Do you ever notice that? Like... I'd say they look like a giant T-Rex. They are! A modern-day human-made T-Rex. I think excavating should be ideal. Absolute machine in that machine. It is wild to see him rip up these roots. He's so good at it. Are you taking notes, Jossie? This is your forte. Whoa! Woo! Order is simply the best. Not only does he help us get all of those roots out, he took all of that fill with him back to the quarry. So that way it's out of our hair and we don't even have to deal with it. He's awesome, eh? The best. The best. A lot of you might be wondering why we have two excavators on the property. And the reason is because we are actually getting our drilled well plumbed to the cabin tomorrow. Crystal and I both don't trust ourselves to get that close to the cabin with an excavator. And the well. And the well. Actually all of it. Call it in the pro. Call it in the pro. Because one little tap, there would literally be a hole through that cabin. And I don't really know about the well, but probably as well. Ah, get it well. So how close can you get to the well with your expertise? With your expertise. A couple inches. Inches? Oh my God, terrifying. Is this what you're doing? I'm here for the show. A lot of you, you're probably wondering, well, why are you digging water lines with an excavator in Canada with all four seasons? It is a complete requirement for all water lines to be below freeze level. So that means four feet deep into the earth and that way they don't freeze throughout the winter. Did you all see that fancy trick? He literally just swapped his bucket to go backwards. That way he can go closer to the house and dig. This is why you need professionals. It's wild. Looks like I have a lot of training ahead of me before I get to the excavating Olympics. Just because you have a drilled well on your property doesn't mean that you have water. There are so many steps, just like everything else, in order to get water. Or electricity. Or anything for that matter. Steps on, steps on, steps. Porter wants you to fire a nail through the back of the bathroom so we can see exactly where we should dig to. Do you both know what our bathroom looks like right now? It's full of tools. There it is. Look at that bathroom. Dad, you have to go in the trench. Really? It's so cold and wonderful. Oh my gosh, I can't wait. This is amazing in here. No wonder Izzy goes under the house. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's like the middle of this board, I'd say. Alright, turns out Porter is probably the best videographer. He's telling me I need to go under the house and take shots of his shovel, his bucket from here. And he promises he won't hurt me. Will he or really not? There's the well. Do you think we even need a dig? Hope you've been well. All winter long by yourself here. Thank you so much. What a good looking trench. It's crazy to me that we're going to have these trenches like all throughout the yard soon. Breaks me up. Breaks me up too. Morning. Everyone's left as we don't want to waste any time waiting for the plumbers. And we want to be efficient and get as much as we can get done today. Look nice together. Alright, the plumbers just arrived. We've been patiently waiting all morning for them to get here because we're so excited that we're going to start plumbing from the well to the house today. The trench that we dug is about a foot full of water. What? It's a fall with about a foot of water. Way more water. There's way more than a foot there. It's about a foot or two. It's high. Is it? Yeah. So they're just going to pump all of the water out and then... We can begin. We can begin. Alright, so the water lines are run from the well to the house. And now they are fishing through the electrical lines. It's looking really cool. And Jan and I were pretty stoked because these blue spools behind us actually have a rating of 200 psi versus the black which are 100. So I think we're going to have these for a long time. We've got the well drillers slash plumbers in the back of the house. Porter's pulling in as I'm speaking with some fill for the solar array. We are just bumping around the land lately. And of course, another little fill means excavation time. I'm so torn. I don't know where to go. I don't know what to watch. Crystal and the excavator with the plumbers pulling the well. Oh my gosh. Oh yeah. Well, almost water. I just love like these are the steps that just matter so much. They really do. And like take so long to line up and get the people out here and get it going and you know all of these things they just take a while and then when you know I just love it. You want to go to the hardware store? Why? Huh? Well, we know it's fun. Here we go. What's everything? Crystal, do you remember? Do you remember? I've got a pretty bad memory, but this is the water tank here. A pump control box which runs the electrical line down at the house through the trench to the well. This here is the heat trace plug-ins and this will monitor the temperature on a sensor underneath so that it keeps the water lines at a specific temperature. Isn't it 4? Yeah. And then this is where we would hook up the water lines for the whole house and everywhere we want to go and this is a garden hose hooker. Or drainage. Or drainage. If you're leaving for the winter. Yeah, if you want to winterize. And I'm pretty sure that's the breakdown right there. Plumber! What do we have here? We have a trench. We have some blue lines. Water, water, land. Get watery. Get watery. Get watery. Don't fall in the trench. Everything in the trench is completed. That means it's time to actually cover it back up. But we need to do this very carefully because obviously we have beautiful water lines that took many hours to install. So we got to start with really light material like sand. Hence the sand that was dropped off this morning. And then we can start piling this earth back into the trench. Cover it up and you'll never know if someone was here. But first, energizing. Is there honestly anything better than dipping in a cool body of water? Wow, absolutely so revitalizing. Izzy! We came down here for you girl. It's your birthday swim. Birthday girl goes for a nice swim in the lake. Alright supervisors, we are back to work. That is a boatload of sand going in those trenches. And part of the reason is is because it would protect the sewage lines or the water lines or whatever lines you're running through a trench from possible penetration from any sort of sharp objects or anything that would crack or disturb the lines. Porter is working on digging the second trench. We're going to use the same exact trench to come back out of the cabin and then to the greenhouse pad and then all the way to the other side of the property to the garage. That way we have water in all areas. Complete change of plans. Porter is now going to fill back in that trench. Damn! Look at this area. Crystal has excavated everyone. Wow! I'm going to let her know on the news. We can't dig that trench over there. Why? Because we all forgot it was supposed to rain like heck the next couple of days. Not worth it. And it's already starting to fall in so it's a trench that we have to literally dig and lie. You know what's up girl. Yeah. Cool. I was like looking at the dirt and I was like I wish this was a giant mixing bowl and this was brownie mix and I was the spoon. That's where I was going. And then I realized I think I've been excavating for too long and I think I'm hungry. Brownie mix. Oh my goodness. You are something else. Honestly, I've never met anyone like you. Never will. You're one in seven billion, honey. Yeah, I think so. And I got you all to myself. Nothing she says ever surprises me. What a girl. Bye. Thank you. Good night. Well, the well is to the cabin. The solar array is completely flattened after being a big step and the garage area is completely graveled. Yeah. We're really working on so many different projects at the same time starting from literal step one. And it's so cool that all of you are invested in this journey with us. You're here watching everything come to life because this is taking multiple weeks. Yeah. These projects are very big when it comes to electrical and plumbing. A lot of planning. And you really just want to do it right the first time. So it's exactly what we're doing. We appreciate you and we appreciate all of your advice in the comments. We read all of them. Thank you for the knowledge each week. Yeah, with that we'll see you next Sunday because the inside run-offs are starting. We're going to make a complete mess of the land around the cabin trenching four feet down over 250 feet around the cabin. What is happening? And finally, after four years of living without an oven, we have the gas fitters out here and you better believe that we're baking up a storm. What am I going to say? Ah! The boats. Lost the keys. Nice pump you got there. I'm choking at myself. Run. Yeah, I ain't got time for that. I'm a woods girl. Run, run, run. Run.