ADRIAN_BROWN AISLYN_BROWN CHEVELLE_ROACH CHEVIE_ROACH EMRY_ROACH JOHNNY_ROLFE NATE_WEDNESDAY NATHAN_BROWN SAMANTHA_BROWN SONTA_ROACH SYDNEY_ROACH SONTA ROACH How many miles have we gone so far? CHEVIE ROACH Close to 70 (112 kilometers). A little flatter, the train is starting to change a little bit. SONTA ROACH I'm just excited, like, I haven't been this far upriver. And I know you have. SONTA ROACH I've only ever heard stories about just this, this country. And to like actually see it, I'm really excited. CHEVIE ROACH Yeah. SONTA ROACH We'll see what we see. We kind of got to poke around. Check out a couple spots. CHEVIE ROACH My family and I are going to head up the Innoko River above the Iditarod River. Expand our horizons. EMRY ROACH Do I have to turn right, Daddy? CHEVIE ROACH Left. EMRY ROACH Left? CHEVIE ROACH It's about a hundred-mile (160 kilometers) boat trip. Early fall, it's the time to harvest. Fill those freezers and get everything that you're going to need before the winter starts. All right, Emry, I'm going to take back over. EMRY ROACH No. SONTA ROACH Baby driver, good job. EMRY ROACH Thank you. CHEVIE ROACH We've got to get some birds. SONTA ROACH Looking for berries. CHEVIE ROACH Yup. SONTA ROACH This is the recon mission. Looking a little moosey out there. CHEVIE ROACH It is, yeah. A lot of big flats. First 15 (24 kilometers) or 20 miles (32 kilometers) is kind of where caribou cross every once in a while. So, I think that's the place to check out. SONTA ROACH Yup. CHEVIE ROACH Well, see what we see back here in this slough, huh? SONTA ROACH Oh, yeah. CHEVIE ROACH Have to hunt around a little bit instead of just knowing right where everything is, you know. It's so windy and rainy and the weather's just down. Sometimes you almost have to jump these animals. I mean, you have to walk back in there, make enough noise, and maybe you get lucky, and they stand up because a lot of stuff's just laying down right now. So, I'm pretty sure that these caribou are hanging out in these bands of spruce along the Iditarod. They're not going to be out far out into the Iditarod in those flats where it's watery. I think they're going to be in this bit of land close to these spruce trees where there's feed, but. SYDNEY ROACH Oh, yeah. CHEVIE ROACH I'm just having a look, just going to go out here and check it out. I'm just looking for any movement. Any horns hidden behind anything. Anything that smells us or hears us and wants to stand up and look over here. It's not just this hunt. It's next year and my kid's hunt. Their kid's hunts. Just always learning. It's all part of it. Big picture, the big, big picture. Don't see anything here. No moose laying down in here. Nothing. Go to the next spot and keep on looking. CHEVELLE ROACH Mommy, Mommy. SONTA ROACH See anything back there? CHEVIE ROACH Nothing. Nice lake back there and some open country and fairly firm ground. SONTA ROACH Nice. CHEVIE ROACH So this is part of being out, Sydney, is you just gotta keep on looking, stopping. Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you walk out and something stands up and you're good. SYDNEY ROACH Okay. CHEVIE ROACH Poke around anyways. SONTA ROACH Yeah. Did you see a monkey? CHEVIE ROACH All right. You guys ready to find our camping spot? EMRY ROACH Yeah! CHEVELLE ROACH [inaudible] let me [inaudible] CHEVIE ROACH All right. Let's do it. NATHAN BROWN This is our most busy time of the year. NATHAN BROWN In the interior, in Alaska. Between getting the gardens in. NATHAN BROWN Getting all the animals moved. It's crunch time for us. SAMANTHA BROWN Is that going to come out with the four-wheeler? NATHAN BROWN Maybe. We'll see. NATHAN BROWN The idea is to get this whole section just grass. NATHAN BROWN So we can do rotational grazing set up and keep our animals where we want them. This is the only stump in this pen. We have a bunch of other stumps that were already ripped out. And they just need to get moved. And then, as time goes on, we'll work our way to that pen. We'll have them sectioned off in one pen. Move them to the next one, and as that grass grows, we'll just keep rotating them. SAMANTHA BROWN It'll be nice to just have an empty field for the animals to have their grazing time. NATHAN BROWN I think that'll stay. I hope it pulls it out and doesn't just give me whiplash. SAMANTHA BROWN Well, good luck! Ooh. NATHAN BROWN Did it move at all? SAMANTHA BROWN Eh, it jiggled a little. Yeah. I think you need to cut the roots. NATHAN BROWN Yeah. It's in there. SAMANTHA BROWN It wiggled, but it wasn't like a, I'm going to leave the ground type wiggle. It was like a, I'll think about it kind of wiggle. NATHAN BROWN It'll come out now. SAMANTHA BROWN Right on. NATHAN BROWN Took care of that one anyway. SAMANTHA BROWN Yeah. NATHAN BROWN We can just start tossing these in here and we'll just burn them in here. And I'll add some wood ash to the soil and get the extra potassium and nutrients in there. Be a good job for the kids to get involved. SAMANTHA BROWN Kids? That's not a bad idea. NATHAN BROWN Anytime we can get the kids involved in any of these projects. Even if it's just little portions here and there, it's an experience for them. It's getting their hands dirty, growing their skills and knowledge. SAMANTHA BROWN Watch out for dad. AISLYN BROWN It's an octopus! NATHAN BROWN You were supposed to grab this, Aislyn. One day we'd like to pass this farm on to our kids and this is a way to get them familiarized with anything and everything on a farm. SAMANTHA BROWN Oh, are you okay? NATHAN BROWN Yup. Good for now. We got most of the big stuff out anyways. The little stuff we can worry about later. We can get started on this lean to we've been talking about. SAMANTHA BROWN Okay. NATHAN BROWN This pen will get split in half. Goats will be in one side, sheep in the other. But they need shelter to hang out under. They need to be able to get out of the rain. SAMANTHA BROWN So we're gonna burn the ends of these posts. 'Cause we're gonna put the posts in the ground. It keeps them from rotting. NATHAN BROWN Creates like a waterproof seal. SAMANTHA BROWN Nice. It's completely hydrophobic. NATHAN BROWN That's why we burn these things before we put them in the ground. SAMANTHA BROWN That's neat. JOHNNY ROLFE I like to move with the animals. The resources call for me to be in this area at this time of year. JOHNNY ROLFE I come here every year to harvest black bear. Every time I hunt I'm alone. This year's a little different. This year I brought my buddy, Nate. JOHNNY ROLFE Look at this rain, like, it has been nonstop raining since I've got here. NATE WEDNESDAY Dude, there's a lot. It's more than I've seen for a while. JOHNNY ROLFE Would you rather be in town right now going into a store fighting people with shopping carts or out here in the pissing rain with a dog on a boat, you know? NATE WEDNESDAY I cast my vote. JOHNNY ROLFE And that's why you're out here. NATE WEDNESDAY Yeah, baby. JOHNNY ROLFE That's, that's why I invited you out here, man. NATE WEDNESDAY Grateful to be here. JOHNNY ROLFE Yeah, hell yeah. Not a lot of people want to hang out here like this in this rain. If there's a bear, it's yours. NATE WEDNESDAY Yup. NATE WEDNESDAY I'm coming for you, bear. JOHNNY ROLFE There's a bear right there. See the rock to the left of it? Let's get it. Let's go. Nate's never been on a black bear hunt. This is your bear, man. The first one's yours. So, I think it's important to let him have the opportunity to pull that trigger. Any meat we get from this, we'll split. And that's the Alaskan way. That's how we do it. I don't think it can see us right here. Do you want me to cover you? NATE WEDNESDAY Yeah, cover me. NATE WEDNESDAY If it runs, at least we have another shot on it. JOHNNY ROLFE Okay, yeah that makes sense. I'm following your lead. He's got his head down. He can't see us. NATE WEDNESDAY It's perfect. JOHNNY ROLFE Yeah. Look at his little ass just chomping down grass, man. I never really see them in the rain like this. Let it get sideways. NATE WEDNESDAY What do you think? Does he look small? It's hard to tell, isn't it? [COMMERCIAL BREAK] NATE WEDNESDAY No dude, it's too small. You can see its face, it's skinny. JOHNNY ROLFE Yeah. NATE WEDNESDAY It's too small. JOHNNY ROLFE I think we'll let it grow up, get it some other time. NATE WEDNESDAY A few more years bear. A few more years. NATHAN BROWN There's all kinds of projects to do out here. The work never ends. And a lot of the projects can't be done by one person. Every day it's a struggle. NATHAN BROWN That post hole digger will help. NATHAN BROWN Samantha and I work together really well. I spearhead the projects that I know the most about. She tends to spearhead the projects that she knows the most about. SAMANTHA BROWN My shoulder really hurts today. I didn't something to it yesterday. I'll let you do it. I'll stand here and supervise, you know. NATHAN BROWN That's good enough for a footing. SAMANTHA BROWN Hi, Dana. You wanna come check out your area? NATHAN BROWN Let's get the tall post in the back. SAMANTHA BROWN Yeah. Cool. NATHAN BROWN 'Cause we're gonna lean it towards the front. We're splitting this pen in two with the fence and adding a shelter in there. This project is just one portion of our overall goal to have a complete rotational grazing system. SAMANTHA BROWN I might have to have Adrian help me because my shoulder is not good. Hey Adrian, I want you to help Dad carry this last one, okay? My shoulder isn't liking, uh, carrying those beams right now. NATHAN BROWN Adrian's at the point he's able to help out more and he's going to have a lot more responsibilities. What you're going to do is rest it in the hole so I can lift it up into the hole. SAMANTHA BROWN Good job, son. I'm really proud of Adrian. He's got such good work ethic and he's really been a big help. I love to see him start doing stuff with his dad. Not bad. NATHAN BROWN Now I just need to zip the tops of the posts off with a chainsaw. I'm running through a screw right now so it's kind of making it tricky. Yeah, you can see I shouldn't have to push like that. That's one of the dangers of using old lumber. If you run into something, you don't mean to it can really surprise you. The goal is to build a building not walk away with a few less limbs. CHEVIE ROACH Looks like a little black bear was in here. Looks pretty darn fresh. If he stays on his side of the slough, there'll be no warfare. But if he, uh, wants to come over to my side of the slough, we'll just turn him into sausage. CHEVIE ROACH My approach to hunting animals is you gotta be patient. CHEVIE ROACH Hours turn into days and days turn into weeks. It could really be tiring. CHEVIE ROACH But you just have to put in time. I see something dark out there. CHEVIE ROACH Next to that lake. Is that, oh! Oh, that's a moose. SYDNEY ROACH Can I see? Dad. Dad, I wanna see. CHEVIE ROACH Okay, hold on. Let me get on it good. Okay, there's a dark spot in the middle of the screen. I think it's a moose feeding. Does it look like a moose? You see what I'm looking at? It's just a dark spot. Gotta be a moose, huh? SYDNEY ROACH I don't see its head. CHEVIE ROACH I know, its head's down, isn't it? It's feeding, huh? SYDNEY ROACH We're still allowed to get it? CHEVIE ROACH Yeah. There's meat on the farm out there, huh? SYDNEY ROACH Yup. CHEVIE ROACH Let's go down there and see what we got on the river. This is the longest remote camping trip that we've been on. Always fun to find some different resources in different places. SONTA ROACH Yeah, we just see what we see. That's how it goes. CHEVIE ROACH It's a good time of year, there's an opportunity to harvest large game. We'll make the best of it. This is where we gotta be is up here a few days and just spend some time floating and looking and watching. We're excited to get on the Iditarod and see what it has to offer. Moose tracks, but no caribou tracks. SYDNEY ROACH I know you like caribou meat. CHEVIE ROACH Especially this time of year right now. SYDNEY ROACH You're kind of craving caribou meat. I'm a moose person, you know. But, I'm totally down on some caribou meat. CHEVIE ROACH Listen, hey, hey. Come here, come here. I hear grouse flying all over. Look on the ground, look in the trees. Do you guys hear that? Huh? You didn't hear it? SYDNEY ROACH I heard it fly over there. CHEVIE ROACH Shh. Oh, you seen it fly? SYDNEY ROACH Yes. CHEVIE ROACH Okay. Make sure you guys are looking in the trees. If somebody sees one, just quietly say, there's one. Okay? Was that a bird? EMRY ROACH I didn't see any. CHEVIE ROACH I heard it. It was way high of us. Oh, here it is. You see up there in that tree? It's in that spruce tree. Up high. Way up there. That would be a tough darn shot. It's a bird. You see it? SYDNEY ROACH Yeah. CHEVIE ROACH Okay, go ahead and. EMRY ROACH I see it. CHEVIE ROACH You see it too, Emry? EMRY ROACH Yeah. CHEVIE ROACH Do you want to try it with your gun, or do you want Sydney to knock it down with that 410? EMRY ROACH I want Sydney to knock it down. It's really high to hit. CHEVIE ROACH Okay, go ahead and try, Sydney. Aim underneath it a little bit, because you're uphill too, okay? You see it, though? For sure? SYDNEY ROACH Yeah. It's so hard. CHEVIE ROACH It's a tough shot, it's so windy. [COMMERCIAL BREAK] CHEVIE ROACH Oh, good one. Get it, Thor. Get the bird. Get the bird. Get the bird. Go. Go. It might still be going. Good shot, Sydney. SYDNEY ROACH Oh, my gosh. Hey, at least I got it. CHEVIE ROACH Oh, wow. What a big bird dog. Linny, come. Come here. Come on. Come on. Good girl. Come here. SYDNEY ROACH Dang it. CHEVIE ROACH Come here. Hey, hey. EMRY ROACH Linny! CHEVIE ROACH Come on. SYDNEY ROACH Thanks, Ryder. CHEVIE ROACH You got it buddy? When your children are starting to become young adults and they've taken in everything that you've taught them, it's fun to see them use those skills to be successful and that's where Sydney's at now. Who wants to carry it? SYDNEY ROACH I'm surprised I even got that. CHEVIE ROACH I'm super proud of her. I know her mom's proud of her and she's proud of herself and that's the most important thing. You knocked it out of that tree. It was still alive when Thor got it, huh? SYDNEY ROACH And Thor's just like nyyyyyow. CHEVIE ROACH He got it, didn't he? SYDNEY ROACH Yeah. CHEVIE ROACH Good boy, Thor. He's a good bird dog. Yeah, yeah, he's a good bird dog. JOHNNY ROLFE What you need to have is respect for the bears. You need to have respect for these animals. Know what they're capable of, and don't put yourself in situations that you can't handle. JOHNNY ROLFE Right there, coming out of the woods. Is that one? JOHNNY ROLFE You see, okay, so there's the big rock, and then there's that dead tree. JOHNNY ROLFE Do you see what I'm talking about? NATE WEDNESDAY Yeah, dude, it's right there on the beach. JOHNNY ROLFE I think we need to roll. Stalking black bears can be challenging because you don't know where they're gonna pop out. Just be careful. You gotta have the wind in your favor. You also have to have an area that you can actually shoot from. And that's if you do get within a shooting range. Do you see it? NATE WEDNESDAY Now that I, now that I see this angle we might need that boat. JOHNNY ROLFE What? NATE WEDNESDAY Now that I see this angle we might need that boat. What do you think? Like, I didn't even see it walk off. JOHNNY ROLFE Uh-uh. The dilemma is, it's over like a little hill, and we can't see it from here. In order to get up to it, we're gonna be too close. It's gonna hear us, it's gonna smell us, it's gonna see us. NATE WEDNESDAY Let's boogie. JOHNNY ROLFE He's right there. He's right there. He's right there. NATE WEDNESDAY Oh, my God, yeah. JOHNNY ROLFE He's walking. He's walking right toward our camp. I think we need to make our move. I think we need to get to shore. We were just right there. It's right where we just were. The smell on the trees I was climbing over. Unreal. I think he might go up in the trees and bail on us. See the waterfall? He can't hear us. He's standing in a waterfall. He can't hear us. He's going up. (bleep). You see him standing up down there? I cannot believe how that just went down. Unbelievable, man. NATE WEDNESDAY Yeah. JOHNNY ROLFE Had to have been smelling our scent. Had to have been. NATE WEDNESDAY Yeah. Sometimes Mother Nature has a toll. Maybe we gotta suffer a little bit before we get the reward. Or maybe we are just the dumbest thing out here. I don't know, but we're trying either way. NATHAN BROWN We always like to use everything we can on the farm. Even all the scraps and the junk. We hang on to anything that could potentially be useful. And it just makes the most sense. I mean, why wouldn't you use something that still has a little bit of life in it? I'll do the taller side, you can do the shorter side. SAMANTHA BROWN Okay. NATHAN BROWN I've got it marked, so we just want this marked dead center on the boards. NATHAN BROWN And we're just going to toenail it in. I'll at least get one in here and I'm going to need to figure out. NATHAN BROWN We'll make it work. We want about a foot of overhang on each end. It doesn't have to be perfect. NATHAN BROWN Shoulder still bugging you? SAMANTHA BROWN It's tolerable. NATHAN BROWN Thanks for powering through. SAMANTHA BROWN Of course. Watch your head. NATHAN BROWN Completing this project will really just add another missing puzzle piece to this farm. It's just gonna, just feel like a big, huge task checked off the list. SAMANTHA BROWN No! The sheep! Adrian! They're just running down that way. Dana! NATHAN BROWN Hey! ADRIAN BROWN Hey Sheepies! SAMANTHA BROWN Sheepies! Sheepies! [COMMERCIAL BREAK] ADRIAN BROWN Sheepies! Sheepies! NATHAN BROWN Got a problem with working in a sheep pen, pulling an ATV in and out, and the gate gets left open. SAMANTHA BROWN Here he comes. Adrian running down the, Sheep wrangling Adrian. ADRIAN BROWN Ha, ha, suckers! You guys exhausted me. NATHAN BROWN Let's throw it up there and see what it looks like. Grab a pocket full of screws. SAMANTHA BROWN It's kind of neat because we have all this random old junk, but we get to turn all the random old junk into something functional. NATHAN BROWN They say one man's, uh, junk is another man's treasure. Something like that. SAMANTHA BROWN Trash, I think. NATHAN BROWN Trash. SAMANTHA BROWN I, I, I don't think it is. NATHAN BROWN That came out wrong. Start with the big ones and just use those for the bottom because they'll be a lot more difficult to lift up high. Go in and around, you're going to the left. SAMANTHA BROWN This is the fun part of the project. This is like a backdrop for like a wedding or something. Wanna come get married by a sheep pen? SONTA ROACH The best way of teaching kids is just being out on the land. We're living through experiences, we're learning by experiences. SONTA ROACH Wow, that was a rainbow cast. Emry's gonna get a fish. SONTA ROACH You just gotta be mindful of us behind you. CHEVIE ROACH The weather just dictates so much about what we doing. EMRY ROACH How do we do it? CHEVIE ROACH How we do it? What the animals are doing. Oh, (bleep). SONTA ROACH Whoa, whoa. What Chevelle? CHEVIE ROACH What was, what was that Chevelle? SONTA ROACH Emry, you reel it in. EMRY ROACH Take the wheel. SONTA ROACH Whoa, that's a perfect Emry size. CHEVIE ROACH No. SONTA ROACH Perfect eating size, too. CHEVIE ROACH Oh, I snagged it. Snagged it. SONTA ROACH You snagged it. Get Linny. Get Thor. Nice one. CHEVELLE ROACH Daddy, fish. SONTA ROACH Yeah, daddy fish. Almost ready to go for a ride. CHEVIE ROACH Me too. You want to go see if there's more ducks in that sloop? SONTA ROACH Ducks. Caribou. I'm down for it all. CHEVIE ROACH All right. SONTA ROACH It's a pretty special area. We're right on the slough. You know, our ancestors used to come up here, too, and use this part of the river as well. CHEVIE ROACH You always hear the stories about them going by the Iditarod with dog teams and, you know, trapping. SONTA ROACH Just moving with the seasons, hunting and fishing and living off the land, you know, depending on where the resources were at, basically. CHEVIE ROACH Right. Somewhere right in here is a spot to get berries. SONTA ROACH Another adventure today, kiddos. Berry picking. CHEVIE ROACH Okay, you got buckets? SONTA ROACH Yup, out of the boat. EMRY ROACH There's some over here. SONTA ROACH Awesome. This is good practice for Chevelle to walk in the woods, too. CHEVIE ROACH This is Chevelle's first camping trip in the fall. SONTA ROACH Oh, here's a blueberry. CHEVIE ROACH And this two-year-old stage is just one of my favorite times. SONTA ROACH Put it in the bucket. CHEVIE ROACH They're learning how to talk. They communicate. But they're still babies, and I think it's important for our kids to be able to see how they were raised. It's the beginning of her story on this river. Chevelle's turned into quite the little berry picker. SONTA ROACH She is. She's going to have to train her little new sibling next year. CHEVIE ROACH She's going to be a big girl. Mom's going to have her another baby. SONTA ROACH Yup. CHEVIE ROACH She's going to have to pack. SONTA ROACH Yup, we got another little Roach baby coming along. Little buddy for Chevelle. CHEVIE ROACH Having another kid is something that came as a surprise to us. Instead of 12 hands going, we'll have 14 eventually. But as you're out there watching my kids and how they've grown, you're just excited as a parent to go through it again. SONTA ROACH Somebody's trying to eat them as fast as I can pick them. I don't know about my partner here. CHEVIE ROACH You guys were all your mom's little partners at one time. SONTA ROACH That's the plan. The more berry pickers, the better. That's the master plan. JOHNNY ROLFE I don't see its black body. It's pretty large. It's just slanking. Right through all those alders. NATE WEDNESDAY Slanking, huh? JOHNNY ROLFE Slanking. NATE WEDNESDAY Slanking. JOHNNY ROLFE I don't know what slanking means, but that bear was just, it was slanking. I think we should go slank after him. This place is for everybody. It gets pretty gnarly out here with nature, but you can't be scared of it. You got to embrace it because you're going to grow and you're going to change whether you want to or not. JOHNNY ROLFE Jesus, it's a big bear. Damn. It's a beautiful animal and I'm not after the hide, I'm after the meat. JOHNNY ROLFE The hide is a, it's kind of like the grocery bag that carries the meat. I save my grocery bags too, you know? Reuse the bag, reuse the hide. That's what carries the food. That would be a hard one to get to, about 500 yards (457 meters), 550 yards (502 meters). NATE WEDNESDAY Murphy's law. JOHNNY ROLFE Unfortunately, I'm not here to just watch animals all day. I'm, I'm here to get my spring and summer meat, so. We'll see you later, Brutus. Big son of a gun. JOHNNY ROLFE Perfect centralized spot. We can see all the areas that the bears would be hanging out. Look at this guy. Little seal popped his head. Not a day passes where I'm not grateful for this. It's insane. NATE WEDNESDAY I wouldn't have it any other way. I just have so much gratitude to be out here. For me, I mean, you know, my teens and my early twenties was, uh, homelessness and drug addiction. I ate out of trash cans. Like, a lot. JOHNNY ROLFE I did the same thing in my teens and early twenties. And then, I was like, okay, that's not for me, but 9 to 5, life isn't also for me. What, what can I, like, how can I find a way that works for me? And then, I mean, look at this, dude. This is now, this is my home. Nate spotted a bear on that far shore, so we're gonna try to go close this gap right here and see if we can get up on it. NATE WEDNESDAY It's right there, obviously ashore. It's really close. JOHNNY ROLFE That's a bigger bear for sure. It's gonna be hard to get up on that thing. NATE WEDNESDAY Yeah, I know. JOHNNY ROLFE Bears have really bad eyesight, so they can't see us. But it can probably smell or hear us. It's not my ideal situation to poke around looking for a black bear when it's getting dark, but Nate and I came out here knowing we would be in these situations. Bear hunting at midnight. All right, man. JOHNNY ROLFE One forty-five. Java, Java, you have to be quiet, dude. [COMMERCIAL BREAK] NATE WEDNESDAY (bleep) me. JOHNNY ROLFE I don't know if he hit it. NATE WEDNESDAY (bleep). I can't see (bleep). I felt good about the shot. Did you see what happened? JOHNNY ROLFE No, he ran off. He ran off. So we gotta go check it out. He could have got hit and just ran ten feet (three meters), you know. That was intense and I wasn't even the one hunting. Way to hold it together, though. NATE WEDNESDAY (bleep) [indistinct] JOHNNY ROLFE It probably ran up in between these big rocks right here. I'll be honest, I don't think you hit it. But I'm just gonna kinda go up in here. Yeah, there's no, I mean, there's no blood. There's nothing right here. NATE WEDNESDAY I can't, I'm not finding nothing. JOHNNY ROLFE Nothing. And that thing put its head down and just ran. (bleep) happens. It's part of hunting. It's part of life. NATHAN BROWN I'm no stranger to hard work. I was raised by hardworking, loving parents who instilled a good work ethic in me. That was a crucial aspect of me being able to come up here and live this lifestyle. NATHAN BROWN We might want to run a fence about here, straight to that second post. Putting in a fence is crucial so we can keep animals in one area and then let the grass grow in another area. Go mark our other post. It's gonna keep the livestock from just going and devouring all the grass and the greens in one area and just decimating it all at once. We should just put a post right at the end. This will allow us a lot more control over that. More directed grazing. As tight as you can get it. SAMANTHA BROWN All right, kids. NATHAN BROWN Those will be a little tall, but that's all right. SAMANTHA BROWN That don't matter. All right girls, you ready to do another one? NATHAN BROWN Samantha and I kinda spearheaded this project, you know, working together as a team to get this done. And the kids are stepping in and helping when they can. Next. It's great to even just have them around. Whether they know it or not, it's going to make an impact on them just seeing us work hard. As they see it come to fruition and the project complete, they kind of understand why we put so much effort into this stuff. SAMANTHA BROWN What do you think? NATHAN BROWN I think it looks good. We just want to make sure the gap between the boards isn't so much that if we have little baby lambs, they can't slip through easily. Almost there. SAMANTHA BROWN There's three here. NATHAN BROWN The more time and effort we put into this, we're just getting one step closer to our end goal, which is a working, running, self-sustainable farm. SAMANTHA BROWN Nice. SONTA ROACH This is the best lifestyle there is. You're living off the land. You're taking care of yourself and your family. You only have what's in front of you to think about, to worry about. That's what makes you happy. CHEVIE ROACH Keep your eyes out there, eagle eye. Just never know. SONTA ROACH You looking for moose? SONTA ROACH What about ducks? You looking for ducks? CHEVELLE ROACH Mommy, moose! SONTA ROACH Okay. SONTA ROACH You see something? CHEVIE ROACH Are those beavers or ducks? SONTA ROACH Oh, what the heck are those? CHEVIE ROACH Big ducks, huh? SYDNEY ROACH Those look like baby ducks, Dad. SONTA ROACH This one right here is not. CHEVIE ROACH Look how big they are. SONTA ROACH Here, go out there, Sydney. EMRY ROACH They still look cute, though. SONTA ROACH Here, Bean. Look, shell's in there. You just gotta pull that back and then shoot. CHEVIE ROACH Right behind it. SONTA ROACH Yeah, you were just right there. CHEVIE ROACH Sometimes, Sydney, those close ones with the shotgun are a little tougher because the BBs don't spread. So sometimes it's deceiving, you're thinking, haha, it's so close, I'm going to get you. And you really, you miss some of those close ones, even when they're flying or whatever, because just your pattern hasn't spread out yet. SONTA ROACH Do you want to give it a shot here? SYDNEY ROACH Yeah. SONTA ROACH Okay. CHEVIE ROACH Gotta put it right on the water, too, Sydney. That gun shoots a little high, kinda. EMRY ROACH [indistinct] that one. SONTA ROACH Sydney, remember, um, one of the things when you're shooting, too is, let your breath come out, and then shoot it. Because when you're breathing, it's actually moving your whole body. Here, you have another shot. Look. Cock it and shoot it. Right there. It's not that far. [COMMERCIAL BREAK] CHEVIE ROACH There you go. SONTA ROACH There you go. Okay, Thor. CHEVIE ROACH Come on, Thor. SONTA ROACH Good job. Let Thor get it. SYDNEY ROACH Unleash the dogs. SONTA ROACH Good job. SYDNEY ROACH Nice job, Thor. CHEVIE ROACH Spoonie. SONTA ROACH Nice duck. CHEVIE ROACH Come on, Linny. SONTA ROACH Are you looking at which ones you might want to get? SYDNEY ROACH Are there bullets in it? SONTA ROACH No, not yet. SYDNEY ROACH Ah. SONTA ROACH But let's look. Is that a big duck? CHEVIE ROACH Yeah. SONTA ROACH Linny, stay. There you go, get it! Good job, Thor! CHEVIE ROACH Sydney's really developed as a hunter. SYDNEY ROACH Are you sure this is close enough? SONTA ROACH Yeah. CHEVIE ROACH She was able to stay calm and place some really good shots. SONTA ROACH Good shot. CHEVIE ROACH Good shot. Grab it Sydney, that's a nice mallard huh? It was nice for her to be able to get a few ducks. We don't want to overharvest, but three ducks make one good pot of soup. SONTA ROACH Go ahead and wring its neck. CHEVIE ROACH Another spoonie, huh? SONTA ROACH Yup, another spoonie. Crack its neck. There you go. You want to hold it? Nice. CHEVIE ROACH You got a duck, Chevelle? Yeah. CHEVELLE ROACH Duck. SONTA ROACH And Sydney, these are your first ducks, right? SYDNEY ROACH Yeah, they are. CHEVIE ROACH Good shot, Bean. SYDNEY ROACH Thanks. See, Chevelle, I told you I'd get you a new, uh, duck duck. SONTA ROACH A new duck duck. SAMANTHA BROWN Go! Go! Nope. Sheepy! Sheepy! Sheepy! Looky! Looky! Looky! It's over here! You ready? NATHAN BROWN Go, come on! Mm, oats. AISLYN BROWN Want some? NATHAN BROWN Oh, I'm okay, thank you. SAMANTHA BROWN We made it to the first grazing pen. They're all in, and the gate's working, the fence is working. I am so stoked. NATHAN BROWN A step in the right direction, I mean. SAMANTHA BROWN I'm glad that we got it done and we did it together. NATHAN BROWN Thanks for your help, kids. SAMANTHA BROWN Hey, you did a good job. Yeah. Thank you guys for your help. NATHAN BROWN You all did good. SAMANTHA BROWN Especially you, son. NATHAN BROWN Just one more, uh, task checked off the list. SAMANTHA BROWN I think the sheep are gonna be really, really happy with it. On to the next project. Come on, guys. SONTA ROACH Blueberries, you're gonna be seeing blue in your dreams. Hooray! These are so good to eat. Cooked berries. A little bit of sugar. So the native word for this is Gantlit. EMRY ROACH Gantlit. SONTA ROACH Just let it bubble a little bit. Good day out on the land. Definitely appreciate you guys help. Here you go, Em. EMRY ROACH You want to try some of mine? CHEVELLE ROACH No. SONTA ROACH Do you want to give this one to daddy? CHEVIE ROACH Ooh, look at that sweet treat. It's nice to be out. See some different country, go camping, but I really want to figure out these caribou. SONTA ROACH Yeah. CHEVIE ROACH Like, makes me want to come back even more, you know? SONTA ROACH For me, being out here is just like, after hearing my dad's stories all these years or other people's stories, you know, it's like actually seeing it with my own eyes. Now we have some of our own stories. CHEVIE ROACH Yup, caribou are great, hunts are fun and exciting, but when I see my kids with a big smile on their face, purple mouths, that's what makes me happy. SONTA ROACH All right, kids. CHEVIE ROACH You guys are so purple. EMRY ROACH I need to hang! NATE WEDNESDAY Dude, look at that color contrast. JOHNNY ROLFE That's insane. It's like a perfect, right down the middle right there. NATE WEDNESDAY Yeah. JOHNNY ROLFE You can't see this stuff anywhere else, you know? You gotta get out there into the wild to see stuff like this. I often view hunting as an opportunity to bond with nature and to get food. It's amazing what a stump, what it looks like from the distance. Looks like a bear from far. But far from a bear. This trip has been a little different. It's opened up my eyes to another way of viewing hunting. And that's with camaraderie. Sometimes you forget what the hell you're doing out here. You know, like, hunting's the goal. Black bear is the goal. And you're looking at this and you're like. NATE WEDNESDAY Living's the goal, baby. JOHNNY ROLFE That's right, living's the goal. There's many ways to give. But to me, giving is done one way, the Alaskan way. Where we share an experience, or a memory, a helping hand, within this subsistence lifestyle. Where we treat each other like family. Because the people you have around you are your lifeline. Yeah, Alaska's changed my, my whole world, man. Since moving up here. Yours too. NATE WEDNESDAY You're telling me, dude. JOHNNY ROLFE Yeah, we'd probably be dead in a gutter somewhere. JOHNNY ROLFE If I didn't come up here. NATE WEDNESDAY A few times over. JOHNNY ROLFE Yeah. NATE WEDNESDAY Yeah, I always say Alaska saved my life. And it did. JOHNNY ROLFE You know, you come out here and it's like, it's raining and it sucks. And it's cold. And it's wet. But I understand it. I can relate to that kind of struggle. NATE WEDNESDAY Yeah, if it was easy, everyone would do it. So I'm glad it ain't easy. JOHNNY ROLFE Yeah, exactly. [SNAP-IN] JOHNNY ROLFE Nate, check this out. NATE WEDNESDAY Whoa. JOHNNY ROLFE Oh, that's definitely this year's cub, isn't it? NATE WEDNESDAY Normal teeth. JOHNNY ROLFE Damn. I'm trying to see if there's a sign of cause, you know? It died like right, like it was struggling up this little bank or something. NATE WEDNESDAY It could have got stuck maybe in this cove in a tide or something? JOHNNY ROLFE Yeah. NATE WEDNESDAY That's my hypothesis is I think this is a really isolated bay surrounded by super steep terrain. It's possible that somehow this cub may have gotten stranded here and just struggled and died here. There's not too much food source. JOHNNY ROLFE Male bears eat cubs all spring. NATE WEDNESDAY Yup. JOHNNY ROLFE It's like their main food source. And like, if a bear killed it, it would have eaten it. NATE WEDNESDAY For sure. JOHNNY ROLFE So, like the, uh. NATE WEDNESDAY That's what I can think of, there's no signs of any wounding from hunters or otherwise. JOHNNY ROLFE No. NATE WEDNESDAY Looks like natural causes. JOHNNY ROLFE This bear I would imagine came out of the oven this year, you know, this spring. It's small but the size of his teeth and the size of his claws for such a small bear. Dude, that's a big claw, man. Hell, I wouldn't want to take a slash to the face with these. It stinks man, I don't know I want to hang out here with it too much of this little patch of woods. NATE WEDNESDAY No in bear country. JOHNNY ROLFE Yeah. NATE WEDNESDAY Not around here. JOHNNY ROLFE Well buddy, part of the cycle of life and death out here, you know? They don't always make it. Come on, Java. Let's make sure we make it. Let's go. NATE WEDNESDAY Yup. Hunters aren't the only thing, gotta survive. JOHNNY ROLFE Come on, Java. Damn, that's crazy. [END]