Homestead Rescue - General Discussion

[MichaelaRae]

Been binging this series on Max for weeks (never caught it live). Watching S9 E5 "All The Pretty Horses" on the edge of Tornado Valley in Texas and did I JUST hear the homesteader say on camera that he's wanted a storm shelter but he was just reluctant to invest the time and money for something that might be used once in a lifetime or once or twice a year but now that it can also be a root cellar, he's fully onboard? Yep, that's what I heard. Man caught on camera saying he values the potential of multi-use over his wife and toddler twin sons. 

Edited June 4, 2024 by MichaelaRae

[buttersister]

Show attracts that sort—dragging family (or accompanying) into the off-grid world where their survival is iffy, stress is enormous and they’re on the precipice of disaster. So a two-fer root cellar? You betcha.

[MichaelaRae]

And now I'm watching S11 E1 where giant man baby husband is so relieved to have someone "take care of me" now that the Raneys are here because he's had to be a "caretaker for so long" because he's had to cook dinners a few times a week and change toilet paper rolls - apparently he's been busy putting babies in his wife for three years and she apparently isn't up for raising him too and so he might have to lift a goddamn finger in the house instead of petting his horses.

[Orcinus orca]

I never fail to wonder if any of these people are a) still together and b) still homesteading.  I'd wager only a few maintained that lifestyle after someone else did all the work to bail them out.

[Meowwww]

I don’t understand the building hunting blinds.  You can’t just hunt year round, it has to be open season. Show fails to mention that 

[Kendra143]

I agree about the naivety and/or stupidity of these “homesteaders.” How can they raise enough food/produce for a family? Most of the greenhouses seem to be for things like basil and thyme. Where are the potatoes, carrots, tomatoes? Some of these groups are so ill prepared for this lifestyle. I agree a “Where are they now” would be amazing! 

[Andyourlittledog2]

The last episode with the alligators was weird.   Homesteader is a single mom with two little girls who had what she claimed was a thriving homestead and business in Hawaii but left it to be close to her dad who is in failing health. Yet she seemed clueless about the place she bought, apparently did no research about weather, swampland, wildlife, etc and has no idea how to begin to problem solve the solutions. And her failing in health dad was doing some pretty heavy work on the place so how failing is he really?  In these newer seasons of the Raneys coming in with a build crew and seemingly unlimited resources and brand new buildings and equipment given to the homesteaders I wonder how many of these newer applicants are hoping that if they have a rundown hopeless property and absolutely no appropriate skills that the Raneys will just come in and set them up entirely with housing, equipment, livestock, gardens, and solar. If I knew I could get all that free I might just buy something really stupid and apply myself. If I was that kind of person.

Seriously, eighty percent of the land she bought is actual swamp with many alligators. The scummy algae covered 'pond' comes close to their home with no protection from alligators. And the mosquitoes must be terrible. 

Now the Raneys set her up with goats and chickens galore and a garden to feed her family and what is it we find four months later?  She has added rabbits, turkeys, geese, and the chickens are multiplying as are the goats.  Yet it's just still her and her two little girls on the homestead handling all of this. I don't trust this at all. There is just no reason for someone alone and with two little girls to have that much livestock to manage in such a small area (the swamp takes up most ot the property).  And when the hurricanes, tornadoes, and torrential rainfall hit protecting all those animals and the garden will take some doing even if the Raneys did their best to protect what they had left them with.  And who is to say that the hydroponic garden that juts out from the barn cover but is still connected to the tanks inside with the fish won't be drowned in rainwater that backs up into the fish tanks? 

I have so many doubts about this whole thing.

But my primary complaint has always been the applicants who have no business even doing homesteading in the first place and make no effort to even research the land they buy or learn any real skills to make it work. They kinda piss me off.

I love the Raneys though so I keep watching.

[Orcinus orca]

^^^ for sure.

I did have a little hope for this group IF the story of a thriving business in Hawai'i was actually true.  And hopefully adding the additional animals was truly meant to bolster the giveaways to the food insecure.

I have also noticed a lot more altruistic specialty businesses that donate all kinds of high priced items and services.  My guess would be that those are all comped by the network.  Plus free advertising.

I enjoy Misty and Matt a lot.  Matt seems to do very well with younger family members and Misty's garden ideas can be pretty innovative.  I probably wouldn't last for 10 minutes in a room with Marty, though.  

Homesteading is definitely not for me in any way, shape, or form but at least I have the smarts to do some research before pulling up stakes and heading into the unknown.

44 minutes ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

And her failing in health dad was doing some pretty heavy work on the place so how failing is he really? 

She said he has been diagnosed with dementia which is not always apparent unless you know the person.  If he has had skills for many years, he will still be able to function with those for a while - the "old" stuff is the last to go at a time when they can't remember what they had for breakfast.

[Andyourlittledog2]

I didn't hear the dementia part but that makes more sense.

If she wants to help the food insecure she still needs to manage all that livestock and fish with just her and the girls. I just think either she's taken on way too much or she has a lot of help that she did not reveal during the time they were there. It just makes no sense to me. I also have trouble believing she had a thriving homestead in Hawaii. We've seen several episodes based in Hawaii and it seems like it's hell to try to homestead there. The available land to buy to do so is pretty limited to inhospitable areas.

 

[Orcinus orca]

7 minutes ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

I also have trouble believing she had a thriving homestead in Hawaii. We've seen several episodes based in Hawaii and it seems like it's hell to try to homestead there.

Seems as though they mentioned the name of her business in Hawai'i.  Maybe after Christmas I will have time to rewatch this to see if I can look it up!

I would be she has help with that farm.  No way she and two kinds can do all of the work - aquaculture takes a fair amount of attention.

[buttersister]

WTAF? 
Psychos move from CA to a hellscape in Nowhere Tx. I mean, what? Mom feels bad having talked her family into this mess. Make it make sense. 

Marty blames their disaster on an ice storm. But the husband says when they bought the place it was flooded with black sewage water. No sewer, no water, no walls, much less insulation. No shelter for animals.

Where is Child and Family Services? Not to be found in Nowhere Texas. But Matt is excitedly setting up one daughter with an archery practice range, as she’s won awards for her skills. It also relieves her anxiety. Can’t imagine what that’s from. 

Now the mom is admitting she has smelled sewage when Marty tells them their septic system doesn’t work—but then, there was no record of it available before they bought this dump. Who does that? I gotta go (not that way.)

 

[Orcinus orca]

Why do all of these homesteaders have piles of crap lying randomly all over their property?  I get the "don't throw anything away, we might need it" mentality but pile it up in one spot, for heavens sake.  Nothing is ever stacked or organized, ,just dumped in random piles.

[Andyourlittledog2]

Yeah, they have shit piled up all over the place, their homesteads always look like public dumps that they just built a house (shed) and took up living there. I don't think there have been more than a few homesteads that I would even consider living at, it'd be so depressing just seeing all that chaotic junk strewn everywhere and no one seems to care at all.

Lately the episodes have been going to homesteads where I think that the families of the homesteaders are probably hoping they will finally give up but then here comes Marty and makes it slightly more livable so they continue on trying to make it on a miserable patch of dirt/rocks with way too little actual expertise to make a real go of it. And of course they envision leaving it for their children to take over. If I was one of those kids I couldn't wait to get out of those depressing dumps.

What is really annoying me is when they go back to a previous homestead that they helped out and find that the homesteaders have let the entire place slide into chaos once again and the Raneys are there, pretty much starting from scratch all over again while the homesteaders beam happily. Seriously, folks, you were left with something that worked and was manageable and you let it sink back into a depressing nonworking mess. Why the hell should you get another shot with this show?  And more donated new solar panels and wells and roadways and gardens, etc?  You're assholes and need to give it up and do something else with your lives. You don't deserve a second shot at a TV show coming in the 'save' you when you let the first chance just become a stinking pile of waste.  Grow up, be the adults you actually are, and do something with your lives that doesn't depend on endless work and actual attention to what the hell you are supposed to be doing. This last episode really pissed me off. Raney is getting kinda old to be doing all this stuff for all these young people who have no business being there in the first place with their fantasy homestead dreams they have no idea how to actually live. If something happens to him while he's helping these jerks I will be infuriated. I know it's his decision but at least when he helps people who have a clue and work hard I know it's for a good purpose. The couple like this last episode I just want to grab by the ear and march them to an unemployment office and say pick a job and start working and actually supporting yourselves and your kids you numbskulls.