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Speaker 1: Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves.

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Speaker 1: From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

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Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

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Speaker 1: my experiences and life lessons. This country Life is presented

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Speaker 1: by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you

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Speaker 1: the best outdoor podcast the airways had off. All right, friends,

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Speaker 1: grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some

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Speaker 1: stories to share country living at the Riverstead. There's a

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Speaker 1: lot each week that goes into me talking about my

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Speaker 1: country life with a big emphasis on nostalgia and the

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Speaker 1: earlier parts of my childhood and adolescents. Well, this week

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Speaker 1: is about a recent visit I had with some folks

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Speaker 1: that are still living a life very close to the

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Speaker 1: land and way down the country. I'm going to tell

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Speaker 1: you all about what they're doing, but first I'm going

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Speaker 1: to tell you a story. This story comes from this

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Speaker 1: Country Life listener Glenn Peters. That's Glenn two Inns. I

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Speaker 1: met a fellow named Glenn once and I was putting

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Speaker 1: his phone number in my phone and I asked him

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Speaker 1: if he had one inn or two in his name.

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Speaker 1: He said, my name is Glenn. Now Glenn anyway, Glenn

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Speaker 1: sends us the story to share, and it ties in

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Speaker 1: with this week's episode through goats. I promise it all

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Speaker 1: makes sense eventually, somewhat so, without further delay in Glenn

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Speaker 1: Peters words and my voice, here we go. The year

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Speaker 1: was two thousand and eight and I was a teenager

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Speaker 1: at high school on my way to my very first

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Speaker 1: country outside of the US, my very first mission trip

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Speaker 1: to eat the Opian.

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Speaker 2: My church had a very.

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Speaker 1: Good relationship with the young Life staff there, and our

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Speaker 1: job was to help run the behind scenes of a

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Speaker 1: camp for the young Life teenagers. I was pumped, first

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Speaker 1: time out of the country and to nowhere else but Africa.

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Speaker 1: What else could a teenage kid dream up better than that?

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Speaker 1: After getting over jet lag and seeing a couple of

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Speaker 1: sights in the main capital, we went into the country

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Speaker 1: and started gearing up for the camps. Among the numerous

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Speaker 1: cultural shocks, one of the most surprising things was the

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Speaker 1: sounds that we heard at night, the most bone chilling

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Speaker 1: of all being the hyena who Now they would always

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Speaker 1: start off in the distance and gradually get closer and closer.

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Speaker 1: And don't get me wrong, I'm an outdoorsman through and through,

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Speaker 1: born and raised, but putting my pride aside. I did

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Speaker 1: have a fear of the dark, something still fighting today

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Speaker 1: at the age of thirty two. The fear doesn't help

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Speaker 1: you when you've heard a hyena in real life and

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Speaker 1: suddenly it.

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Speaker 2: Becomes part of the night course.

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Speaker 1: Every night, all of us, including the adult leaders, were

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Speaker 1: enamored by these sounds, and most of us, never having

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Speaker 1: been to this part of the world before, we're itching

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Speaker 1: to see the gangly ghosts that were making those bone

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Speaker 1: chilling sounds. Many attempts were made through the nights, but

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Speaker 1: we never saw one. Then, between the intermission of the

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Speaker 1: first and the second camp times, the staff butchered two

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Speaker 1: goats in our honor. During the cooking, one of the

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Speaker 1: guards mentioned that this would definitely draw in the hyaenas

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Speaker 1: close enough.

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Speaker 2: For us to see them.

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Speaker 1: That night, we started to hear hyaenas like we've never

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Speaker 1: heard them before. But again, they were all in the shadows,

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Speaker 1: just outside of our view. So what was a group

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Speaker 1: of teenagers going to do about that. We'll follow one

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Speaker 1: of the guards into those shadows and bushes and search

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Speaker 1: for him. Of course, we all filed in behind one

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Speaker 1: of the camp staff and eventually ended up in a

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Speaker 1: huge tunnel of thickets, and I mean a thicket one

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Speaker 1: that if you sent a dog through he might not

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Speaker 1: come out of.

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Speaker 2: It was so tight that it forced us to.

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Speaker 1: Be single file, and I found myself behind the lead

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Speaker 1: local staff member, And as we got deeper in, I

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Speaker 1: noticed that he was not carrying the AK forty seven

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Speaker 1: rifle that I was used to see.

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Speaker 2: In the guards carrying.

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Speaker 1: He was carrying a stick, a small, thick, little hickory stick. Now,

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Speaker 1: with people uncomfortably close behind and in front, there was

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Speaker 1: no other option but to hope that this man knew

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Speaker 1: what he was doing in case we ran into the

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Speaker 1: strongest jaws in the animal kingdom. Luckily, we never ran

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Speaker 1: into a hyena in that thicket, even though we almost

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Speaker 1: ran face first into a massive African porcupine. After that

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Speaker 1: little hard pounding adventure, with no hyenas in sight, everyone

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Speaker 1: went back to the fire at the camp, while one

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Speaker 1: of the leaders and I stayed around on the road

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Speaker 1: near the field where we'd been hearing all the hyaenas.

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Speaker 1: After about thirty minutes, the mood changed. Somewhere in the

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Speaker 1: surrounding areas, dog started barking and going nuts. Commotion was

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Speaker 1: happening all around us, and mainly about one hundred yards

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Speaker 1: down the road. The Leader and I took one look

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Speaker 1: at each other and ran straight toward the commotion.

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Speaker 2: We knew it was.

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Speaker 1: On about three quarters of the way there. In About

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Speaker 1: thirty yards in front of us, one two, three, four,

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Speaker 1: now five hyenas dashed across the road.

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Speaker 2: We stopped dead in our tracks.

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Speaker 1: Then slowly emerging from the shadows. Only about ten yards away,

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Speaker 1: a massive female hyaena crossed right in front of us

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Speaker 1: and back into the shadow on the other side of

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Speaker 1: the street. A muffled sentence of unholy words that I

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Speaker 1: can't repeat could be heard out of the Leader's mouth

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Speaker 1: as we watched. This huge, dominant hyaena paid no attention

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Speaker 1: to the world and walked right in front of us,

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Speaker 1: then staring at the tree that all the hyaenas passed.

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Speaker 1: We stared a little closer. There was a mound of

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Speaker 1: brush next to a tree that all the hyaenas were

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Speaker 1: jumping over. Looking at it closer, we realized it was

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Speaker 1: one of the guards sitting there stone, still smiling at

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Speaker 1: our open mouths that were still hanging to the ground.

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Speaker 1: After picking up our jaws, we smiled back at him,

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Speaker 1: and he just sat there slowly patting that rifle that

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Speaker 1: was laying across his lap. And according to Glenn Peters,

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Speaker 1: the Pride of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that's just how that happened,

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Speaker 1: running towards the high Maybe you ain't as afraid of

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Speaker 1: the dark as you thought they're Glenn, thanks for sharing

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Speaker 1: country living at the riverstead, Britt, you ought to come

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Speaker 1: down here some time and go fishing with us. That

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Speaker 1: was an invitation sometime back from Keith Brandon, and that

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Speaker 1: didn't go by unnoticed. My responses to things such as

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Speaker 1: those are usually don't tempt me with a good time,

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Speaker 1: or don't toy with my emotions. Some invitations are more

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Speaker 1: of an example of polite conversation as opposed to a

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Speaker 1: genuine offer. But now I take those invitations very seriously

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Speaker 1: and I get a lot of them. Unfortunately, there's no

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Speaker 1: way I could take everyone up on their generous offers

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Speaker 1: because of other commitments, and I can't be out hunting

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Speaker 1: and fishing all the time. My boss, Garrett Long would

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Speaker 1: send someone from Bozeman down here to beat me up

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Speaker 1: and tell me to get back to work. But this

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Speaker 1: invitation ban it hit it just the right time. Me

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Speaker 1: and my buddies rand On Bread up to Coon Camp

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Speaker 1: had to cancel a flathead catfish expedition due to heavy

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Speaker 1: rains that had the predictably unpredictable Cash River in an

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Speaker 1: ebb and flow that just wasn't conducive to hooking flatheads.

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Speaker 1: Baron newcom and I experienced that a few weeks ago

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Speaker 1: by running limb lines on the Cash under the same

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Speaker 1: exact conditions. We caught two nice blue cats, but zeroed

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Speaker 1: on flatheads, which is what we were after. I remembered

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Speaker 1: Keith's invitations, so I checked with him on the water

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Speaker 1: levels on the other end of the Saline River from

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Speaker 1: where I grew up. Keith said to pack a bag

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Speaker 1: and come on. I was way ahead of him because

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Speaker 1: I hadn't fully unpacked from the trip to the case

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Speaker 1: factory when I set out again, heading to the riverstead

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Speaker 1: where Keith and his wife Lee have lived for twenty

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Speaker 1: four years. I mentioned Keith in episode two twenty seven

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Speaker 1: of This Country Life when I was talking about flathead

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Speaker 1: catfish in the different ways to catch them, including dynamite,

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Speaker 1: like some of my family did way back then. If

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Speaker 1: you hadn't heard it, I recommend you do so I

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Speaker 1: do not, however, recommend fishing with dynamite. I'm just throwing

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Speaker 1: that out there. But I rolled down to Keith and

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Speaker 1: Lee's and I found them sitting under a covered patio

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Speaker 1: with fans turning the unseasonably cool July air to what

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Speaker 1: felt like springtime. We sat down and visited. It was

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Speaker 1: actually the first time I'd met either one of them personally,

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Speaker 1: even though I'd been talking to Keith for several months.

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Speaker 1: My brother Tim has been friends with him for quite

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Speaker 1: a while, and it was Tim's introduction months ago that

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Speaker 1: really made this trip possible. We got more acquainted with

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Speaker 1: one another, and Keith laid out a plan for the

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Speaker 1: afternoon and evening.

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Speaker 2: We'd hit the river.

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Speaker 1: We'd tie out some troutlines and find some good spots.

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Speaker 1: Go ahead and set out a dozen bank poles that

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Speaker 1: I'd got from Jeff and Dusty gesture it be my

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Speaker 1: first time fishing them since I picked them up, and

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Speaker 1: I was as anxious to do that as I was

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Speaker 1: anything else. The river rolled by the front of their home,

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Speaker 1: within easy rock chunking distance of the yard's edge. Were

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Speaker 1: off to the side sat a skin and shed and

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Speaker 1: a walk in cooler the water and yard were separated

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Speaker 1: only by a one lane road that was shaded by

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Speaker 1: hardwood trees that more resembled a tunnel than a dirt road,

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Speaker 1: with each following the path of the river a little

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Speaker 1: over a quarter of a mile before ending at a

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Speaker 1: gangway that led down the bank to their boat dock.

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Speaker 1: His and her john boats were tied up there, and

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Speaker 1: after we compiled items from each end of Keiths, three

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Speaker 1: of us headed out down river. Now, Keith's been catching

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Speaker 1: fish for a quarter of a century right there, mainly

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Speaker 1: within a two mile stretch of their home. Brim bash cropping,

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Speaker 1: and of course catfish were what they like to eat,

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Speaker 1: and according to them, they eat a lot of fish.

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Speaker 1: That's my kind of menu. Keith told me that the

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Speaker 1: first year he lived there as a bachelor, he brought

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Speaker 1: home twenty four thousand dollars of his earnings that year

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Speaker 1: and was able to save sixteen thousand of it by

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Speaker 1: feeding himself what he could hunt and fish.

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Speaker 2: Now, fish is what I was there for.

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Speaker 1: And way back in episode one to eleven of This

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Speaker 1: Country Life, I talked about how to build and fish

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Speaker 1: a trot line. For those of you that are new

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Speaker 1: and may not have gone back and listened allowed me

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Speaker 1: to review for just a minute on what a trot

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Speaker 1: line is. The trot line is a long length of

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Speaker 1: line with individually spacelines hanging from it called drops, with

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Speaker 1: a large caliber hook that you can attach a bait

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Speaker 1: to also along the line or waits. They're tied in

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Speaker 1: as well. That keeps the hooks fishing at or near

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Speaker 1: the bottom of the river. Keith has his lines at

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Speaker 1: about each third of the line, and he doesn't suspend it.

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Speaker 1: He runs it all the way to the bottom, letting

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Speaker 1: the weights keep it where the flat had drawn, and

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Speaker 1: fishes live baby, which is the preferred food of Polydictus olevrius.

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Speaker 1: With three unbaited trot line set, twelve bank polls jobs

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Speaker 1: in their spots.

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Speaker 2: We started brim fishing for bathing. I'll admit him.

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Speaker 1: You've probably heard me say it on several occasions, a

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Speaker 1: targeting and catching big brim to put on a hook

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Speaker 1: to catch something else that's somewhat sacriligious to my Upbringing

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Speaker 1: a mess of fried brim from the slein river would

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Speaker 1: be my last meal request should I ever find myself

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Speaker 1: sent us to ride the lightning in Old Sparky at

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Speaker 1: the Arkansas Department of correction. It is my favorite meal.

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Speaker 1: But man, I'll tell you, there is something special about

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Speaker 1: a mess of cubed up belly meat off of flat

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Speaker 1: head that'll make you do strange things. The difference between

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Speaker 1: flathead and the other type of catch is like the

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Speaker 1: difference between wagoo beef and everything else. Now, I can

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Speaker 1: make that comparison only because I was treated to a

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Speaker 1: wagoo steak about a year ago at a famous steakhouse.

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Speaker 1: It was incredible, better than I could have imagined, and

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Speaker 1: I could eat one right now and I ain't eating hungry.

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Speaker 1: But it's still a distant second to fried bream. So

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Speaker 1: what drives a person to do such blasphemy, Well, they

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Speaker 1: provides some variety in your diet, and it's the thrill

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Speaker 1: of catching them. There's nothing like checking your lines and

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Speaker 1: seeing the tree you've got your line tied to, or

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Speaker 1: a bank pole bobbing up and down with the weight

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Speaker 1: of a big fish. We would experience both of those

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Speaker 1: the next morning after baiting them up. That night, the

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Speaker 1: lines we baited up stretched across the bottom of the river,

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Speaker 1: some forty yards from bank to bank. The regulation state

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Speaker 1: that you can ain't have drops closer than twenty four inches.

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Speaker 1: Keith and Lee only run about twelve to fifteen hooks

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Speaker 1: per line. They're they're fishing for quality, not quantity. They

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Speaker 1: also have some self imposed regulations that I'll tell you

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Speaker 1: about in a minute. But right now, with the lines

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Speaker 1: freshly baited with some good sized brim, it's time to

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Speaker 1: head back to the riverstead for a late supper. Keith

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Speaker 1: woofed the supper mess of belly meat and grits for

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Speaker 1: our supper.

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Speaker 2: It was kind of funny earlier.

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Speaker 1: In the day when Keith asked me if I liked

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Speaker 1: shrimp and grits and how I fixed them. I told him,

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Speaker 1: and he agreed that that was basically the same as

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Speaker 1: the way he did it. I also told him that

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Speaker 1: was my daughter Bailey's favorite dish next to barry chilli,

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Speaker 1: and that I had fixed it for supper last night.

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Speaker 1: He laughed and said, well, that's kind of what we're

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Speaker 1: having tonight. I promise I didn't mind. I usually eat

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Speaker 1: grits multiple times a week for breakfast, except when I

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Speaker 1: was in Pennsylvania last this week, I couldn't find the

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Speaker 1: bowl of grits there. With the search one lady and

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Speaker 1: I sent my piles out at case a big bag

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Speaker 1: of them when we got back home.

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Speaker 2: We're hoping the trend catch his own.

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Speaker 1: Out there, but the combination of seasoned flathead belly meat

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Speaker 1: cooked on his blackstone was an even fetter substitute for

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Speaker 1: shrimp man.

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Speaker 2: It's good.

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Speaker 1: The next morning we were up bright and early, grabbing

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Speaker 1: coffee and making our way down to the boat to

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Speaker 1: check the lines in the bank poles. It was a

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Speaker 1: good run. We had several flatheads on the hook, and

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Speaker 1: both types of fishing produced good fish. The smallest was

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Speaker 1: an eight pound flat head and the biggest was a

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Speaker 1: blue cat that weighed over thirty pounds. Now here's where

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Speaker 1: the self imposed regulations come in. Anything they catch that

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Speaker 1: is close to or over thirty pounds gets released back

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Speaker 1: into the river. Don't matter what it is, blue cat, flathead, whatever,

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Speaker 1: that's conservation and stewardship at the resource. That's good stuff.

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Speaker 1: Aside from fishing that morning, Lee had gotten up two

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Speaker 1: hours before the rest of us and milk a squad

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Speaker 1: of dairy goats that she raises. She also gathered eggs

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Speaker 1: from their laying hands. While Keith and I fed some

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Speaker 1: rabbits after we got back from fishing. Their menu is,

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Speaker 1: aside from goat milk, the same as mine. But they

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Speaker 1: raise fish or hunt for an estimated eighty five percent

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Speaker 1: of what they consume, including vegetables arounding out the meat men,

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Speaker 1: you are squirrels and ducks, turkeys, bullfrogs, and wild hogs.

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Speaker 1: They cure their own bacon, they grind their own sausage,

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Speaker 1: and can a ton of vegetables, relicious rowtail and jelly.

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Speaker 1: And I know a lot of folks are doing some

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Speaker 1: of these things nowadays, but it's just refreshing to see

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Speaker 1: so much of it done like Keith and Lee are

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Speaker 1: doing it now. They both hold college degrees and work

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Speaker 1: full time jobs in addition to their riversteaded life, as

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Speaker 1: as Keith calls it, and they do it in a

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Speaker 1: remote corner of southeast Arkansas. And I brought some bear

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Speaker 1: meat with me and Keith fixed up a simply outstanding

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Speaker 1: meal that he filmed stepped by step and posted on

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Speaker 1: his riverstead YouTube channel. My most favorite riva in the world.

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Speaker 1: Will include a link to the show description. Now you

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Speaker 1: can substitute deer meat if you don't have any bear

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Speaker 1: for this recipe, and beef if you don't have any deer,

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Speaker 1: but if you don't have any deer.

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Speaker 2: I highly encourage you. Just ground some up.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna try at this fall, and the first big

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Speaker 1: old man that walks by me is now doomed just

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Speaker 1: because of this recipe.

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Speaker 2: Good night, nurse.

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Speaker 1: It's good I skipped over that goat milk drinking like

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Speaker 1: I do it every day.

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Speaker 2: I do not.

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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, the last glass goat milk

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Speaker 1: I had came from a gallon that had been given

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Speaker 1: to me by my talkative, health nerd neighbor from down

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Speaker 1: the street. Over a year ago. A joker caught me

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Speaker 1: outside one day and got to tell me about all

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Speaker 1: all the wonderful attributes of nanny goat milk as opposed

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Speaker 1: to cow's milk, and like folks with manners do, I

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Speaker 1: feigned enough interest in what he was talking about, allowing

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Speaker 1: him a reason to keep talking about it. After listening

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Speaker 1: to him drawn on for thirty minutes of how pasteurized

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Speaker 1: milk was going to kill me, I was at that

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Speaker 1: point right then when I wished it had already had.

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Speaker 1: Eventually he walked on home, and a week or so

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Speaker 1: later he brought me a gallon of goats milk, and

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Speaker 1: I tried to drink it. It was so sweet I

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Speaker 1: couldn't finish the glass. It was like sweet Tea and

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Speaker 1: simple syrup had had a baby and named it goats milk.

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Speaker 1: I was not a fan of it, so I told

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Speaker 1: him to come get it and drink it himself, or

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Speaker 1: put it back in the goat. I liked to drink

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Speaker 1: and cook with cow's milk period. Now the further layer

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Speaker 1: of some lactose confusion on this, I should explain that

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Speaker 1: I normally refer to whole milk a sweet milk. I've

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Speaker 1: always called it that because that's what I've always heard

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Speaker 1: it called. There'd always only been two kinds of milk

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Speaker 1: in my life, sweet milk and buttermilk, and they both

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Speaker 1: came from a cow. Now their skim milk two percent milk,

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Speaker 1: and every kind of liquid known to man kind mashed

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Speaker 1: from a plant referred to his milk. But I got

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Speaker 1: some news for y'all. If it ain't squeezed out of

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Speaker 1: an udder into a bucket, it ain't milk. That, my friends,

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Speaker 1: is juice. Anyway. Fast forward to a few days ago,

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Speaker 1: and Lee is pulling a fresh batch of homemade brownies

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Speaker 1: out of the oven. Keith and I are admired her

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Speaker 1: handiwork and waiting for the green light to commits to

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Speaker 1: digging in them. And what goes better with a warm

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Speaker 1: brownie than a cold glass of sweet milk? Lee asked,

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Speaker 1: wants some milk to go with that? I?

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Speaker 2: Sure do.

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Speaker 1: She poured me up a glass from the ice box,

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Speaker 1: and I was raised it to take a drink, when

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Speaker 1: the thought occurred to me that this probably came out

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Speaker 1: of a goat. This goat's milk, Lee it is, she said, proudly.

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Speaker 1: Here we go again. I thought, but I'm too committed

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Speaker 1: now to back out. Plus I don't want to offend

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Speaker 1: my new friends. I took a silk and nothing bad happened.

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Speaker 1: Then I took a drink, and I was more surprised

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Speaker 1: of what it didn't taste like rather than what it did.

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Speaker 1: And what it tasted like was milk, regular old red

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Speaker 1: top whole milk like I've been drinking all my life.

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Speaker 1: It was good, and it watched that browning down like

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Speaker 1: it wasn't there, And I drank some more just to

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Speaker 1: make sure I wasn't crazy.

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Speaker 2: Goat's milk. Who knew?

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Speaker 1: I tell you who knew? Lee and Keith Brandon and

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Speaker 1: I know some of y'all are laughing right now and

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Speaker 1: confirming to yourself that what I'd led you to believe

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Speaker 1: since this country life started, and that's that I finally

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Speaker 1: lost my mind. But you be wrong about the goat

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Speaker 1: milk thing. You'd be wrong, and I'm talking to you

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Speaker 1: Sunspot like crew. They like to listen to each episode

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Speaker 1: and then call me and poke fun at myself confessed imbecility.

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Speaker 1: Not this time, I'm changing that huge ad campaign. It

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Speaker 1: was everywhere I turned a few years ago, from got

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Speaker 1: milk to goat milk. That's enough about goats anyway. Have

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Speaker 1: you ever had honeysuckle jelly?

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Speaker 2: Well?

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Speaker 1: I hadn't in what seems like forever, but I had

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Speaker 1: some at the riverstead that Lee made. It took me

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Speaker 1: back fifty years just looking at the golden contents of

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Speaker 1: that jar and thinking about gathering up honeysuckle flowers as

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Speaker 1: younger and tasting the sweet nectar. A visit there wasn't

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Speaker 1: necessarily a unique experience. The life they're living is represented

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Speaker 1: in some form in every direction I can see from

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Speaker 1: my front porch. But watching Keith and Lee navigate through

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, much like folks did in nineteen thirty

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Speaker 1: four with refreshing and they're both younger than me, and

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Speaker 1: they're fully vested, working hard and making the most out

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Speaker 1: of what they're producing and gathering, not because they have to,

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Speaker 1: because they want to. There's a lot of work hours

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Speaker 1: ago until the chores are done. That's not an easy living.

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Speaker 1: But living in the country has never been about easy living.

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Speaker 1: It's been about good living. When living is good, everything

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Speaker 1: else seems pretty easy. Guess what This Country life t

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Speaker 1: shirts are back in stock and I can't thank y'all

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Speaker 1: enough for showing your support for my show and clay Bowls.

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Speaker 1: Another great way to show your support is to write

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Speaker 1: us review and share our shows with folks you think.

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Speaker 2: That would enjoy them too.

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Speaker 1: It really does help, according to the nerves that know

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Speaker 1: all about how.

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Speaker 2: That stuff works.

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Speaker 1: Anyway, that's all for me until next week.

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Speaker 2: This is Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all be careful, chi