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?
08:30No.
08:51Oh, yeah.
08:52One step closer to goat.
08:54One step closer to goat, baby.
08:57All right.
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.
18:31Oops.
18:37Wooh!
18:38Get it squared away, it feels good.
18:40Yes!
18:41Hell yeah!
18:57Okay.
18:58Jeez.
19:12Yes!
19:13Yes!
19:27Alright, my little pipe job has been fixed.
19:30At least the temporary job.
19:32Till the spring comes and we can really thaw her out and fix these pipes for real.
19:36You really appreciate your showers after you go digging under your house to fix the frozen pipes.
19:51Stinky little boat boy.
19:53This paint is so old and dry I can literally just flick it off.
20:23It's a cute little green tub underneath this rickety old cracky blue paint.
20:37To replace it with maybe a clawfoot tub.
20:41That would be so nice.
20:54Finally that tub is clear.
20:56The drain is flowing.
20:58The paint is stripped off as much as I could get off today.
21:02And this is going to be really nice.
21:04I feel some little bit of pampering going on here.
21:07Just washing my body up with some hot ass water.
21:53Yes!
22:23The boys are here right on time.
22:30Morning boys.
22:34How's it going young fella?
22:36Old peachy.
22:37It's pouring out now.
22:40The town office is over for you some place.
22:42Boys a bit out last night?
22:45Yes, we found our way down through the passageway.
22:48That's just part of us.
22:54Smitty you're still not wearing a hat today.
22:56No.
22:58Now we're getting cold.
23:00No I won't be cold.
23:02Snow is already building up on your hair.
23:05I won't be cold today.
23:07Wait until she gets 55 or 60.
23:09Your collar rolls in when she gets that age.
23:12Alright my love.
23:13Love you, have fun.
23:14Get them.
23:18Ready?
23:43All we need is those little birds right here.
23:48Come on.
24:07Those fat ones are bull birds.
24:10I don't know if I'll ever see that line again tonight.
24:13I don't want to hit them.
24:19I don't know.
24:21They look pretty handsome.
24:27Three.
24:32Got another one up there as well.
24:34Can't even tell if he's on.
24:36Yeah, here.
24:49There you go.
24:50Two on the board boys.
24:54Better run than your pack of bulls.
24:56Better than nothing.
25:09Another one.
25:19Here he is.
25:22Oh my god.
25:29Jeez Louise.
25:32Calling me fat.
25:34What do you call it?
25:36John Dwayne.
25:37John Dwayne Jr.
25:40Don't worry about that.
25:41I've got two in here.
25:43Fine as you get them boys.
25:44Don't worry about those two.
25:50Right in our back yard the whole time, Gord.
25:53Yes, strange how you go over there.
25:58I don't know.
26:00The thing is, we come down and we never see nothing.
26:04Wait until what?
26:23Yes, sir.
26:25Double.
26:26Double.
26:27We're into it now, yep.
26:34Oh yeah, I'll tell you.
26:36Once you get into the birds, birds are great.
26:38Because there's so much shooting.
26:49Oh jeez.
26:50Just about to eat that by the end of the night.
26:52Blood and feathers.
26:55That's for Ronnie then.
26:56He's good to go.
26:58Blood and feathers.
27:01Getting clear over there.
27:03Yeah, you're getting clear.
27:07I got blood thirsty boys.
27:17Oh my god, that's good.
27:20Boys, you're really putting on weight.
27:23I'm telling you, we're putting on weight.
27:26That's it, man.
27:28Once you see a gull, they're right there in front of you.
27:30Once you see a gull, they're right there in front of you.
27:31Once you see a gull, they're right there in front of you.
27:33Pretty good little run there.
27:35Better trigger happy man today, Gord.
27:37Almost ready to go.
27:50Look, is that turds or bull birds?
27:52Bull birds.
27:53Turd down there.
27:55Turd right there.
27:59Get her now, Gordy boy.
28:03Newfie paradise, you ask me.
28:05Looking much better than this.
28:07Another one out there?
28:09Is that a turd or a bull bird?
28:11Turd there.
28:13There you go.
28:14Oh, that's a flabbergast.
28:16Oh, we got a few birds.
28:19Perfect.
28:20Something for the pot tonight.
28:24Kelly's first meal of turd too.
28:26Oh yeah, you know, all this is her first off.
28:28She's never tried turd before.
28:44Turd.
28:46Turd.
28:48Turd.
29:14A little bit too oily.
29:19Come on, Gordy.
29:24No, I think that's a puffin, Gord.
29:26Turd.
29:46Here, Gord, boy.
29:47Here.
29:48We can show it to us.
29:49She's having us.
29:51Before we're going back, I'm going to give her a turn around.
30:21We had a runner.
30:52Oh, you got him.
31:07Runner now, boys.
31:13Nice shot, Smitty.
31:21Nice shot, Smitty.
31:41That's what I'm saying.
31:43See the water flying in there?
31:46Look, there's two right there.
31:48There's two right alongside you, mister.
31:53There he is.
31:56Nice.
32:10Oh, Ronnie likes that.
32:12Holy shit, boys, what do you got?
32:19Okay.
32:23Oh.
32:25What is it, Ron?
32:34Yeah.
32:40Yeah.
32:44Yeah, we should, yeah.
32:46I'll do that.
32:47Do you have a pan I can use, or are you all booked out?
32:53You just sit down now.
32:55He's taking over now.
32:56Or I can take over.
32:57Or Garth, maybe we can take over.
32:59You sit back now.
33:04Have a rest, old girl.
33:06You know.
33:11Yeah, I'm on your side, yeah.
33:16Have I?
33:20Oh, yes.
33:21Definitely.
33:28I think you're right, Smitty.
33:30I'd say it's a $400 frying pan full.
33:36Yes.
33:46Yeah.
33:51Oh, Ronnie wants some liver.
33:52Guaranteed.
33:56My son.
33:57What a feed.
34:09All right, Kelly.
34:11First turd liver, let's go.
34:13Oh, I'm nervous.
34:15Never had liver before.
34:17Any liver?
34:18Any liver.
34:19This is your first liver, liver ever.
34:20Holy smokes.
34:21And the first liver is going to be a turd.
34:30Drive.
34:32Drive it in, you old girl.
34:33I'm sorry.
34:40Oh.
34:46We're all waiting.
34:51Ronnie, let's try some.
34:58Turd liver bite.
35:05That's good.
35:06You don't like that?
35:07It's not that bad, I just couldn't swallow it.
35:09I took a really tiny piece, too.
35:11I think it's a mental thing.
35:16Mm-hmm.
35:18Take some more of that.
35:21It's a good one.
35:22Promise.
35:35Give me another piece of that turd liver, boys.
35:38For God's sake, someone give me a piece of that turd liver.
35:41Mm-hmm.
35:45Oh.
36:12Oh.
36:19What are you doing?
36:20That's not fair.
36:41I wrote this song back down south in Virginia.
36:54This is called Save Your Bullets.
36:56Here we go.
37:11Save your bullets I'm riding through
37:18Sheriffs save your bullets, I'm riding through
37:213 days shy of 22
37:23I'm a hot shot shooter with Virginia blue
37:28Got a bounty in Texas and Tennessee too
37:30Save your bullets, I'm riding through
37:32Saved her bullets, I'm riding through
37:43Hard time blues for a Bonnie Lass
37:47Lost her husband to a gambler's match
37:50Tales of riches on a trailing pass
37:53She saw the gold through the whiskey glass
37:58She saw the gold through the whiskey glass
38:09On a hard tail, on and right out of there
38:13She saddled up her tan to St. Mare
38:16Rode through the night on a dusty trail
38:20The money she needed was riding the rails
38:27The money she needed was riding the rails
38:36Well, Sheriff, save your bullets, I'm riding through
38:40Three days shy of twenty-two
38:43I'm a hot shot shooter called Virginia Blue
38:46Got a bounty in Texas and Tennessee too
38:51Saved her bullets, I'm riding through
39:02Rode to a town south of Alamo
39:06Ruffed up Rambo, tipped his hat real low
39:09Deceit in disguise, but the look in his eyes
39:12He sent me riding to the firing line
39:17He sent me riding to the firing line
39:29Well, Sheriff, save your bullets, I'm riding through
39:33Three days shy of twenty-two
39:36I'm a hot shot shooter called Virginia Blue
39:39Got a bounty in Texas and Tennessee too
39:46Save your bullets, I'm riding through
39:53Save your bullets, I'm coming for you
40:17So good, Kelly.
40:20Whoo! I know, I know.
40:23I was gone there for a sec too.
40:26That is unreal.
40:29Can you believe that Kelly wrote that?
40:32I have no idea where this woman came from.
40:35She can work, fix tubs, cook, clean, love,
40:38and write around music like that.
40:41I know. There's a good reason I'm wiping her out.
40:45So good, Kelly. Thank you.
40:56This is the night before posting the video.
40:59This is Saturday night.
41:02So tomorrow morning this video goes live.
41:05It's been a busy week out here.
41:08We haven't stopped as you can imagine.
41:11Each week we can try to answer some of the questions.
41:14Some of the popular ones, anyway.
41:17Miss Kelly already went on the comments
41:20and took down a bunch of comments.
41:23You guys asked, what's the history of the house?
41:26History of the house, this is all from what I learned
41:29from word of mouth as I came here
41:32from the people that's around here.
41:35This house is about 100 years old, maybe just a little bit older
41:38It was built just like all the rest of Newfoundland homes
41:41with the traditional building.
41:44All the logs for the boards that were built here
41:47was apparently dragged down from a hill over there somewhere
41:50by a fella and one dog named Prince.
41:53That's how the story goes.
41:56All those logs were milled into the boards that built this house.
41:59It's changed hands multiple times
42:02but this is one of maybe three or four
42:05that never got resettled.
42:08So this is a little piece of history if you ask me.
42:11This 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.
42:23We're going to fix this place up to its original or better condition
42:26keep adding on to make it better and better for ourselves
42:29for what we need, gardens, animals, friends
42:32and just live it and enjoy it
42:35and just stay here forever. Why would you want to leave?
42:38I know these videos make it look good
42:41but it is good and trust 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.
42:50Why did people who once lived here on the island leave?
42:53That's a good question because most people aren't newfies who are watching this video.
42:56Newfoundland back in the day, I don't know, it was the 50s at some point
42:59the government basically came in and did its big resettlement project
43:02there's a lot more
43:05backstory on that but long story short
43:08they were trying to build a province and they had to bring all these
43:11outports in and basically get everyone to come into cities
43:14to have work
43:17and build factories and whatever other bullshit
43:20they sold everyone.
43:23It was one of the biggest migrations of people in Canada
43:26of all time. One of them was here in Newfoundland
43:29there's thousands and thousands of people
43:32that in places just like here in St. Joseph's that were uprooted
43:35and told to go somewhere else.
43:38A lot of them took their homes with them, that's why there's only a few homes left here
43:41original. Some of them fell down of age
43:44but a lot of them got dragged into the water and they pulled them
43:47back to the mainland wherever they were supposed to go and resettle.
43:50There's a whole lot more to that story, I can't do it justice
43:54but in short the resettlement happened and the fishery dropped out
43:57so do some research on it, do some googling, it's a very
44:00interesting 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.
44:09Do we have internet here? Yes, we have internet here
44:12we have Starlink and that is how we are uploading these videos
44:15and it's really fast actually, very fast
44:18All you gotta do is turn the generator on, give it some power
44:224 minutes later we got internet anywhere in Canada, it'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
44:31It is a lot of work, hauling water
44:34Winter time, it's probably going to be like that, winter time it's going to be hauling water
44:37Summer time is a different story, once summer gets here
44:40we can set up a gravity feed water system from a high spring
44:43that's up much higher than the house and run a long
44:46long line all the way to here and gravity feed water
44:50a kitchen sink taps will work, a toilet will refill
44:53and then when freeze up happens and winter comes I'll disconnect that
44:56so it doesn't freeze and go back to hauling with buckets
44:59Any other ones you really, top of your head
45:02if we didn't write down? Are there any other people on the island?
45:05Are there any other people on the island, that was a common question
45:08Yes, there is
45:11Winter time, this winter we are the only full time residents here on the island
45:14Summer time, like when I showed up in that first video
45:18a lot of these are homes and cabins that were passed down through generations
45:21and people love this place
45:24all the cabin owners and the families from here still love this place
45:27and they come back, so summer time is actually pretty busy
45:30which is lovely because everyone out here is great
45:33and there's lots of people to socialize with and talk to and hang out
45:36and also all the skippers around here have so much knowledge
45:39I mean, you think we know what we are doing watching these videos?
45:42Some of these old boys, they got the knowledge
45:46We'll try and answer a few more questions again next week
45:49Can't say enough, Scoats, how much I appreciate everyone taking the time to watch
45:52to share this, to comment
45:55We love you and we really enjoy making these videos for you
45:58and it feels good to share this one
46:01This is one that we are very passionate about and I'm really into
46:04So thank you
46:07Thank you, Scoats
46:10See you next week
46:13See you Sunday
46:16Love you all