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[Narrator] Creative 
collaboration, 
muscle building grit

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and passion for 
plants and animals.

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That's what Travis 
County Master Gardeners,

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Julie Nelson and Kay Angermann,

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brought to their new homestead, 
dubbed Katie Bird Farm.

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- We bought the 
property in 2013.

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We had been eyeing 
it for a long time.

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One of our best friends 
lives next door.

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And we had spent many 
times on her back patio.

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We kept talking about 
this rough, rough patio.

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[Kay Angermann] Dreaming 
about living next door

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and doing something fabulous.

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When we first walked 
onto the property.

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Well, we started designing 
it at that moment,

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but we had to back into it,

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literally our bodies because,

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[Julie Nelson] well, we 
had to chainsaw a path,

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so we could actually pull 
the truck into the property.

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[Kay Angermann] First of all,

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we had to locate all 
of the Oak trees.

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We have 26 Oaks.

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So we cleaned it, 
cleared it all out.

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Figured out where we were 
gonna build the house and all,

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this was over the 
course of a year.

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And then all of the 
sudden the Blackfoot Daisy

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started showing up.

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And the foreigner 
daisies and some grasses.

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And we were like,

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Oh my gosh, once we lifted 
that canopy, it was like,

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everything woke up.

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[Kay Angermann] We love 
birds and wanna make sure

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that we have a lot 
of habitat for them.

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So some of it was native.

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Some of it we've enhanced.

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All of those cedars that's 
protection for the chickens,

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because it's less room for 
hawks or owls or predators

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to swoop in.

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We are on very, very 
rocky property out here.

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[narrator] From 
previous gardens,

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they knew how to deal 
with rocky land and shade.

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Plus they've got 
gardening roots.

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- Our mothers, our grandmothers,

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my sister and brother-in-law

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own a big greenhouse in Des 
Moines. It's in the family.

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- My family, they're all 
farmers in South Texas.

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[narrator] When they moved 
to Katie Bird Farm in 2013,

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the Halloween floods, 
washed out the driveway.

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[Kay Angermann] And so we 
ended up having to bring

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in a backhoe

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and all of these large 
berms around the property

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are literally from our 
washed out driveway.

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[Julie Nelson] 'Cause 
they had to scoop it up

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and just dump it 
in a couple areas.

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[Kay Angermann] So we rented 
a skid steer ourselves

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and we started forming 
all of these berms,

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[Julie Nelson] We filled it in

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with some of the credy 
dirt that we had and then,

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and then good dirt 
and then mold.

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So we just use this 
layer this berm.

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[Kay Angermann] 
Everything was done

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in such an organic way.

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Julie and I never wrote, 
drew a plan out or,

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had a plant list that we wanted.

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- I build all the 
raised bed gardens

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and we have to raise 
bed our vegetables

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because it's so rocky out here.

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We tried hay bell the first 
season and that was okay.

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But then we realized 
we actually needed

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a different solution.

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(country music)

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[Kay Angermann] Julie is 
really good at building

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and I'm really good 
at holding things

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while she builds them.

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(laughs)

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[narrator] They did hire 
out for their sturdy

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and safe chicken coop.

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[Julie Nelson] And 
it's a mobile coop.

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So technically it could 
be moved, it's on wheels.

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I actually brought it in on my 
little John Deere Gator UTV,

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and then we've kind 
of just, you know,

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made it our own thing.

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[Julie Nelson] We 
have an old dog kennel

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and we attach that 
to it and then.

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[Julie Nelson] 
Create a more space.

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[Kay Angermann] So they 
can free range some,

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we can have them in a protected 
area at times as well.

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[Kay Angermann] We completely 
close them up at night.

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So they are 
completely protected.

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[narrator] The happy 
hens are watched over

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by our lady of Guadalupe,

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rendered by graffiti stencil

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and mural artist, 
Federico Archie lotto,

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known as El Frederico 
to as many fans.

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Then the chickens got company.

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[Kay Angermann] The 
donkeys were clearly

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a midlife crisis for me.

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Some people go out and

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get a sports car or 
do something crazy.

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I got donkeys. It was 
just something that.

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[Julie Nelson] we always wanted.

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[Kay Angermann] That 
I had always wanted

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and we wanted to have 
a little hobby farm.

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[narrator] They term up 
every spot with unique

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and personable vintage 
funds that Kay sources

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for her business hip Billy Kay.

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- Kay would bring something 
home that's really cool,

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and she'll place it somewhere 
and I'll be thinking,

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now, I think it might 
work, and I'll just,

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I won't ask her necessarily 
all move it and say,

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Hey, what do you think? 
And more times than not,

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if it works and I'm like, Oh, 
that does really work there.

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So we're constantly just 
kind of moving things around

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and looking for 
the right angles.

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So we have lots of 
collectible stuffs.

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[Kay Angermann] And we 
we utilize a lot of 'em.

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I mean, a lot of them 
really have a purpose,

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and most of 'em has planters.

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We've got a hog feeder 
with circulants in it.

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Over here as my dad's 
old cast iron crock and.

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- I didn't hear your 
grandfather kept his in.

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[narrator] One of their favorite 
bonds is an old windmill

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that inspired the barns design.

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This storage building and 
winter home to large container

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plants had to be substantial 
enough to support the windmills

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weight and 10 foot girth.

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[Kay Angermann] We 
owned the windmill

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before we owned this property.

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[Julie Nelson] So we knew we 
needed to do something awesome.

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And then we light it up and 
we keep the lights on it all

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year.

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It illuminates the whole 
garden at night, it's fabulous.

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[narrator] Then they 
added a greenhouse

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as a propagation station where

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they also overwinter 
cold tender plants.

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[Kay Angermann] We 
actually got the greenhouse

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from the same guy that 
did the chicken coop.

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[Julie Nelson] We pack that 
greenhouse in the winter.

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You can barely get in.

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You can get in just enough 
to do the requisite watering.

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Otherwise you cannot 
maneuver in there.

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[narrator] On super cold nights,

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a small heater in greenhouse 
and barn warms things up

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nicely.

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- It's probably one of the 
biggest chores on this property

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is the winterizing it, because 
we have a big investment

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in our potted plants and 
we don't wanna lose them,

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I mean, most of these plants 
in the pots we've had for four

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and five years that have 
made it through the winter.

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[narrator] To protect 
plants from deer,

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they installed a six 
foot goat wire fence.

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So what's behind the homesteads 
name, Katie Bird Farm.

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- My grandmother from South 
Texas, from violet, Texas,

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a little town outside of Corpus.

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Her name is Katie, was 
Katie, Katie Burkhart.

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And she was an avid gardener.

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She was a rose gardener, and 
a farmer, a farmer's wife.

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I just loved my grandmother 
in the vegetable garden here.

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We have a gate that was her 
garden gate in her rose garden.

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And well at first was 
the gate to the house,

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the old farmhouse.

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And then she moved it into her 
rose garden to be a feature

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kind of like we have 
these features around.

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[narrator] One feature owners 
of resident Road Butter

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who adopted them from day one.

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- I've always kind of thought

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of my grandmother as 
my guardian angel.

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And so I feel like 
that has, you know,

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manifests itself 
into this reservoir.

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She followed me around yesterday 
and sometimes I would come

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out and she would literally 
follow me all around the

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property. It was crazy.

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She's Katie bird and 
we're Katie Bird Farm.

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(country music)