Cooking up a Kitchen | Live Free or Die
Oh my god, well that's the grossest thing I've ever seen in my life. Let's cover that thing; like, for real, this is a cow's head that is decomposing. About six or so weeks ago, a neighbor of ours had a cow suffocate. It got so cold out that its nose froze shut, and cows can't breathe through their mouths. The neighbor gave it to us because it was dead, and it stinks good, so we're covering it with straws so you don't have to smell it as much.
Wow, well, one day this will be a very fertile spot. All right, no more smell! So, what do you say we build this little freak, continue our outdoor kitchen, and then let's do it? Yeah, I got you this. I don't know what it is, but I thought you might want it. Hmm, I think these are the kinds of gifts they get from my husband. No, you get other things sometimes—things that I can't use.
You give my companionship! Homesteaders Tony and Amelia live off the land in a 400 square foot house in the hills of North Carolina. I just want my kitchen gone; it's hard to be patient. Pony has been talking about maybe building an outdoor kitchen with me for a few years now, and we're finally doing it! It's sugaring season—the time is right for Tony and Amelia to make Sycamore syrup for bartering, a task they've never done before.
We have to boil the sap down outside, which means we have to finish our outdoor kitchen. How it takes a while building anything, right? Right now, I'm just trying to not fall off! Everything died. Thanks for building this, sweetheart. I'm building her kitchen for you, baby.
Making do with what's on hand is a big part of Tony and Amelia's lifestyle. Here we are—Sycamore syrup that's been cooked down by hand is going to be $20 a pint. The money that we make, we're going to use to purchase more livestock. The first step is for us to make some taps out of river cane. This is free, and it's green—literally. And with any luck, some Sycamore juice should come out of these taps, and we're gonna slide these jugs over the taps.
Once we have enough Sycamore juice, we will boil it down and make Sycamore syrup. I want to make sure it's really round. This is not the roundest piece; we got plenty to pick from. I gotta cut some holes in these. These nodes are a lot thicker than bamboo. It's actually cut—it's pretty hard to push through.
Yeah, it's good! Maybe you can drill if you want to drill through it. Okay, let's do that; that totally works! This is new to Amelia and I; we're by no means professional sugarers. We might eff it up, and I'm willing to, but we might also get it right the first time, which I'm hoping to pull almost like—oh, there we go, it's perfect! Forget about making the taps; let's make flutes! No more flirting today, all right?