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I think I'm on the verge of becoming a farmer. Babushka vibes. In today's episode, I accidentally create an actual mountain of hay. It is so much. It's just so much hay. I reveal a couple of secrets I've been hiding from you for months. I actually got another horse. Yep. And take a massive step in bringing new animals onto my land. You like it? Yeah. This is all madness. It's all moving so quickly. I have no idea what I'm doing. And apparently this is now my life. You ready? So, enjoy.
Well, becoming a farmer was definitely not on my bingo card for this year, but this is where we are right now. Recently, this uh influencer accused me of neoconolonizing Poland because I bought land in the Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe. Maybe this person didn't realize that I was Polish. I have no idea. Probably not. Do I look more Polish now? Babushka vibes. Is this Polish enough for everybody? Cool. Let's get moving some hay. I think I have just under 2 acres of hay to flip over. And I have to do it today because it's going to rain in 3 days and the hay still needs time to dry out. And then I need to be able to collect it.
So, I have to get this done today. Never done this before. I guess this is this like the technique. Just kind of like flip it. And yes, I hear you loud and clear as you scream, "Ava, there are machines that can do this." And indeed, there was a machine that came here to mow the damn thing. At this point, you might be wondering, "Where did all of this come from? And why am I suddenly making hay?" Well, a few days ago, I was talking to a neighbor about having to buy hay for my horses. Yes, horses plural. We'll get there in a moment. And he said something that may seem very obvious now, but that blew my mind. He said, "You have hay
right here." Yep, indeed, he was right. I did have hay here. The best, wildest, most natural hay money can buy, i.e. my very own grass. So, two days later, a guy with a tractor comes and cuts the grass because as I'm learning just right now, this is the first step in making hay. Oh, and by the way, did you know that you can learn how to make hay from YouTube? Yep. Yes, you can. This is actually kind of amazing to watch. I was really worried that I would not like seeing the meadow being raised down, but I know that this is going to provide food, hay for my horses, and it's from my own meadow. No pesticides, no fertilizers, nothing. just pure natural goodness. And that feels kind of amazing.
How hard can it be to flip over 2 acres worth of hay? As it turns out, it's not hard as in complicated. It's hard in very, very novel ways. In fact, as someone who went to university, who worked in the corporate machine, and someone who still spends way too much time on her phone, I can assure you with confidence that this kind of work is hard, but so rewarding and beautiful. I enjoyed every minute. But when I looked at my watch 4 hours later only to realize I had flipped over a fraction of the grass, I also realized that this is mission impossible for one single person. Processing my hay, I have come to understand a couple of important things about the human relationship with farming and like farming lifestyles.
Listen, listen real good. Farmers don't have many kids, multiple kids, big families, because it's romantic or it's cute or it's freaking traditional values. Farmers have big families traditionally because more kids equals more hands. More helping hands, more people to do chores and help out with the farm. It's simple math. Does this make me a farmer? I feel like it kind of does. I am producing food for my animals because this hay is going to feed my horses in the winter. That I guess makes me a father. No.
Oh my god. It's kind of crazy. It's hard work. Turning over hay is like the ultra running of the farming world. That's the comparison that I would make. How is it, buddy? Does it feel good? Nice and cool. I'm going to jump in the shower, too. Yeah. Oh my god. A very cookooky thing about social media is that when you're following someone on social media, like every day, almost every day, you get a sense that you know a lot about that person, that you know what that person's life looks like every
day. But it's interesting because I'm about to show you why you really don't. Because as creators, we only show you like a little snippet of our reality, right? It's 20 minutes of video every couple of weeks or 10 seconds on Instagram every day. Um whereas in reality this our lives are more. Obviously, everybody's life is more than just a highlight reel. That's to be expected. No. So I just want to show you this. I have been hiding an entire building from you. Not because I want to hide it, but just because I haven't had a chance to properly introduce it. But this has been like slap bang in the middle of my land this entire time. And you haven't seen
it. You haven't noticed it because I just haven't shown you until now. So, let me show you. This is my horse shelter that I got built that I had built for my horses when they eventually when they soon move here. I didn't build this. Obviously, I don't know how to build things like this. I had a crew come and build it for me, and I think they did an excellent job. It's so cool. It's so big. It's so spacious. It's got power. It's got lights. It's going to have cameras as well in the next couple of days. Um, but yeah, I'm not very good at planning things ahead. So, I just kind of had it built um as like, you know, relatively big. And I thought this whole space would
belong to the horses. But actually, now that I have my hay cut, I'm going to have to dedicate the entire 50% like that way to just storing hay. So, this entire half, this is going to be the hay storage, which means that I need to uh separate it from the half that's going to be for the horses. And I'm not very good at these things, as I've said a bajillion times, but I'm getting by with a little bit of imagination and some very basic tools. So, what I've decided to do to separate the two sections is um put this like net here. It's quite tall. It's like 160 cm, maybe more. And um and then I'm going to have to put some pallets on the bottom on the floor here on the ground to make sure that the hay doesn't go bad
or moldy or, you know, doesn't soak up moisture from the ground. So, you Let's go ahead and do that. Let's go and do that. So, earlier in this video, I mentioned a YouTuber who had criticized me for buying land in Poland. She also happened to criticize me for getting land without any land management skills. And you know what? That's okay. Her reaction is her business. Voila. Oh god, so heavy. But I just wanted to say, don't let the fears and projections of other people influence your decision- making. We all start somewhere. That's a simple truth. And just because you're new to something doesn't mean you can't learn. It's not black magic.
Please appreciate the fact that I'm sharing my shoddy DIY at the risk of being ridiculed by the whole internet. I don't particularly care, but just know that we all have to start somewhere. And right now, I just don't have much guidance. So, I'm I'm kind of just making this up as I go along. And I feel like that's better than choosing not to do something because you're like afraid of not being perfect and not being good at it. I know I'm not good at this, but I know I have to get it done. So, I'm just going to get on with it and get it done however I can. Hey, it's looking pretty good. All right, now we got to cut it.
There we go. Fabulous. The next step, build a makeshift floor to protect the hay from the ground. Literally never done this before. So, here comes something thoroughly unimpressive. Is it pretty? No. Will it do? Yes. I don't know if I want to show you. There we go. Hey, storage galore. Let me give you a little tool. So here we have the front wall and this is kind of um uh just here and then this is the gate. So this will open up and we've got this
wire on all sides so that the hay doesn't fall out and so that the horses can't come in from the outside or other animals come in from the outside and eat it. And on the floor, we've got a kind of makeshift pallet setup where we've got ventilation from the bottom and ventilation all around and a roof above so no rain gets in. This took me 5 hours and I am very proud. I'm very proud. With my hay storage facility done, I actually got some great news. Someone from the village was actually willing to try and dare and come up to my land with their old school tractor to help me flip over the rest of the hay and collect it.
Yes. it is so much. It's just so much hay. I'm just gonna climb on top and kind of mush bring it down a little bit so that more fits in. I ended up spending tons of time and money on the horse shelter, the hay processing, and the fence around the new horse pasture. That's 2 acres worth of fencing, including installing it, painting it, drilling holes in it, threading it, and installing the electrical fence components. So, what is all this for? Well, the payoff is going to be pretty sweet longterm. You're going to see in a couple of minutes what I mean. But first, let me go over to my friend's property so I can share another little secret
with you. I've been hiding a secret for a good few months. I'm finally ready to share it with you all. So, I've just come over to see the horses to see Shaman. Hey, buddies. Hello, Shaman. Good boy. Hi, VN. Hi, Veno. Good girl. So, my secret is that I actually got another horse. Yep. I bought another horse earlier this year in like March and I just I haven't told you yet because I just hadn't had the opportunity to tell you and I really wanted to give her like a proper introduction. So well here she is. Hi. Well, this is Bliss. Bliss is a 4year-old quarter horse mare. She's this gorgeous buck skin color and I got her in Slovenia and I just fell in love with her the first moment I saw her and
she's honestly just such an angel. She can truly do no wrong. Bliss is still very young. So over the last few months that I've had her, I've mostly done basic training and ground work with her. I've ridden her a couple of times, but that's a journey that will start in earnest this autumn. Being a quarter horse, she's got a wonderful temperament. And on top of that, she's very sensitive and in tune with human emotions, which has been an interesting experience. Maybe one day I'll make a deeper video about my whole inner journey with horses.
Bliss is a little bit too busy sleeping right now to talk to us. That's fine. But at this point, you might be wondering, why do you need so many horses? because I actually now have two and a half horses since I co-own a half of another horse. Anyway, long story short, if I wanted Shaman to come and live with me on my property on my pasture, he can't be there alone. Horses are her animals and they need company in order to be happy and to thrive. So, if you want to keep horses, you can't just have one. You have to have more than one. So, that's basically the main reason. But there's another reason, which is that for some of my future horse plans, I'll need more than just one horse. I'll definitely need two, maybe three. So, yeah, I thought I'd
start putting together the herd now so that we can learn together and learn from each other. And hopefully in a couple of years, we'll be ready for a grand old adventure. Yeah, good boy. Yeah. Do you like your new sister? Okay, but my plan for today is actually to grab shaman, only shaman for now, and bring him over to my property for just a couple of hours, just to see what he thinks of it. Just to see if, you know, he likes the pasture. I just want to kind of try it out. And then we'll come back here for the night. Um, eventually, hopefully the next couple of weeks or so, both Bliss and Shaman will come over
and live with me. Yes, you are a good boy. Yeah. You want to come and live with me? Yes. My little boy, you are so handsome, buddy. You are so handsome. All right. Shall we do it? Yeah. You want to go for a little walkie with me? You want to go for a little walkie? As you may remember, my horses live at my friend's place with their herd and on their pasture. So, every time I want to see them, I have to drive over. Let's go on an adventure.
Come on. Good boy. Holy I'm about to bring my own horse to my own pasture on my own land. None of this is quite sinking in just yet, but I can tell you this is a massive moment. I'm never having kids, so for me, this is the equivalent of bringing your baby home for the first time. Yes, that is the comparison I am choosing. After some trekking through the forests and the mountains, we finally made it to my place. Ah, we made it home. I'm so excited. I have been so excited about this moment for like the last two years to have a horse and to let him go on my own pasture.
He's You like it? Yeah. Hi. You look good. You a good boy. What do you think? Any impressions? I'm actually a little bit speechless because I have been dreaming of this moment for such a long time and it feels kind of surreal that Shaman, my horse, is finally on his pasture on my land. This is mad. It's like a dream come true. Truly. Well, it seems to me that he kind of likes it here. That is promising. Soon, I hope to bring both Shaman and Bliss up here to spend more time on my land. I don't know
yet if they'll live here full-time given my work and travel schedule, but I do want them here as much as possible. For now, Shaman and I rode back to where he lives all the way back across the forest and the mountains. And as for me, I'm just in absolute awe of what life can turn into. Just 3 years ago, I was completely untethered and terrified of any commitment. Today you couldn't pay me to leave this place behind.
