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Katie
If they have twins, you have to name them Ham and Cheese.
Jonathan
I've always said Ham and cheese would be a great name for, you know, a newborn duo.
Nate
And how many likes on the video to get a ham and cheese?
Katie
40,000.
Jonathan
We need a ham and cheese.
Katie
Welcome back to Catching up with Katie. I am so sorry that we haven't really been doing consistent episodes lately due to the fact that we've been traveling a lot. We've been going to horror shows. We have been working so hard at home to prepare for those horror shows. And so that means just like the. The issue we're running into is in time. Okay? We need more than 24 hours in a day. We need more than, you know, however many days of daylight. We need, like, three more hours of daylight in each day. So that's what we've been doing. But we're going to try to be a little bit more consistent about catching all up, having different guests. So today my husband Jonathan is joining us. We're going to catch up with you here in a moment, but we are going to address. Let's address the room. You got a new desk.
Nate
Room. New desk.
Katie
You've got a new desk. But not for long.
Rebecca
No, hopefully not.
Katie
I came up with an idea.
Nate
Wait till you hear this.
Katie
I came up with an idea. Okay, so, like, we basically don't live at our house anymore. Like, we do everything in the shop all day long. We sleep at our house. And so I brought my old kitchen table to the shop. So we've been kitchen table less for probably six months now. And it's just.
Jonathan
We do have one, though. It's just not put together.
Katie
So we have one.
Nate
That's. That table that's down there is the old one from your house.
Katie
Yeah.
Nate
Looks way bigger down there than it did in your house.
Rebecca
Yeah, for sure.
Katie
It's a. It's a big table. It's. It was from, like an estate sale. It's huge. But I had gone to Sarah Sales, which is like a. A warehouse sale, I don't know, last August, I think, and I bought this round table. I bought this round table that is beautiful. And, you know, I don't. Why does it need to go in my house? Who am I hosting in my house? Nobody.
Rebecca
I love more that you bought it and then purposed it.
Katie
So I bought it for the house, and then it just never got put up. So now we. We've repurposed it and I think because we have some rain days coming up.
Nate
All right, boys, bring it in.
Katie
Meaning you have some rain Days coming
Jonathan
up, we can get it put together.
Katie
And so we'll put it in here and instead of having y' all over there, you know, space out these big clunky chairs. Which by the way, these chairs were for an ad and then they just never left. They're so comfy that that's why they haven't left. And so we just sit in them. But for filming purposes, they are not the small, dainty aesthetic chairs that are needed. And so we are kind of gonna
Rebecca
swap round five a little more conversationally. I love round.
Katie
With that being said, Nate, take it away. What are we gonna be doing?
Nate
We are also going to be dual purposing this room.
Katie
Yes.
Nate
For some DND Dungeons Dragons chat.
Katie
Yes. So if you are a nerd, get ready.
Rebecca
Which is a majority of you.
Katie
For real though, like the YouTube audience.
Rebecca
Yeah, it was a sleeper. Did not expect the overflow of or the influx of people that were supportive of that journey. So.
Katie
Well, you know, during full.
Rebecca
Encouraged her to play. Thank you. Encouraged her to play. You guys. Made her more.
Katie
Here's the thing. I. I've always been a mystical.
Rebecca
Oh yeah.
Katie
You know, imaginative person.
Nate
Yeah.
Katie
But it's just that the embarrassing factor of like I've been beat down by society my whole life.
Rebecca
Everyone has.
Katie
Everyone. And so it just took a minute to get the confidence to like put on the voice.
Nate
Yeah.
Katie
Put on the character, you know, and it was so wild because during fall watch, it gets boring. Like you're. What are we gonna do? Right? We're all. It gets dark at 4:30 and then we're waiting on these foals be born. And we're all just like, what are we gonna do? We're staying up watching for this baby. So we started playing Dungeons and Dragons and it's like a role playing esque game and you like roll dice and it's like a game of chance kind of. But there storytelling. It's really cool. And a lot of you play it. I didn't know that.
Nate
Yeah.
Katie
Would you play it?
Jonathan
Maybe I'm open to it.
Katie
You would?
Jonathan
I haven't played it, but I feel like he. Once we get the.
Rebecca
Nobody did.
Nate
Yeah. None of us had played.
Katie
I feel like we should. We should do a one off one day just to like let him dip his toes in so many people.
Jonathan
I feel like I know nothing about it.
Rebecca
So like once you get that like free will.
Nate
I think I feel like this free
Rebecca
will is what gets people.
Nate
I feel like this would be like, right, you could you wake up in camp the fire's going out. You're on a hunting trip.
Katie
No, we gotta be like, middle of the night.
Nate
Yeah, but you could.
Rebecca
Okay, you're a dwarf on a hunting trip.
Nate
You're on a goblin.
Rebecca
Yeah.
Nate
You're on a hunting trip and you hear this animal that you don't recognize the sound. It's the middle of the night. What do you do? What do you do?
Katie
You can just do whatever you want. That's the fun of the game.
Nate
Yeah.
Rebecca
You wake up in your tent to find all of your party has completely vanished. But there's tents are still there, the fire still going.
Jonathan
How much I know about it because.
Nate
So, like, at that point, that's all
Rebecca
you know about it?
Nate
Well, I grabbed my flashlight and I try to go after the animal to figure out what it is. You could say, I'm going to get out of here. I'm going to sneak 30ft away and wait to see what happens.
Rebecca
It's also a better setup, though. It's like, you know, everybody's. Everybody's gone. But you do notice you do hear some sounds coming from one tent in particular. What do you do? You either leave, either go investigate. Then you would roll your dice to see if what your decision was was successful, what happens. So, you know, as a matter of fact, I'm thinking there used to be this old survivor game. Like. Like, I feel like my grandparents had. It was like surviving, like, survival situations where like, bears and, like, traps and whatnot.
Katie
Anyway, I don't know.
Jonathan
But once we get the round table.
Katie
So, for instance, if you were like, I want to go sneak up and open the tent and peer in, but I don't want to be detected. They'd be like, okay, roll for stealth. And then if you roll a six with your D20, you're like, oh, you tripped into the tent and alerted everyone around you. Or if you roll a 19, maybe
Nate
you get away with it.
Katie
Maybe it's like, oh, yeah, you look in, you successfully do what you want to do and you see that it's an intruder. What do you do? Like, it's really cool.
Rebecca
Really. Just need to have, like, Brendan's or Brennan's explanation of it just, like, saved in my phone because this is so good. And it takes 30 seconds. And, like, just the way he words it is like, oh, that's just.
Nate
You just hit him with one of these.
Rebecca
Yeah.
Katie
We're bringing it back.
Rebecca
It's back.
Katie
We're bringing it back. We did have a game new storyline, though. That's the thing. We are going to privately end Our icespire peak campaign. So. Sorry. You know, honestly, we didn't even live stream every single episode of that one.
Rebecca
No.
Katie
But we are going. Here's what we're gonna do. We're going to hire a dungeon master.
Rebecca
Yes.
Katie
So that we all three can play together. And I think it's gonna be fun. And then we can like, you know, if we ever do one offs or whatever, like one of them could DM or something.
Rebecca
But it would be more fun. So if you would argue that this will be more fun than having anybody, like, playing with friends is fun, I've had a blast. But I think like playing together. So if you're a.
Nate
If you're a DM in the Nashville area, honestly.
Katie
And here's the thing. So right now our like, our DND group is like two dudes and me. I would love if it was a girl.
Rebecca
Yeah. Need to balance that out and. Because. Never mind.
Nate
But if, if you are. Hop into the comments.
Rebecca
Yeah, hop in the comments.
Nate
We are actually looking for somebody if
Rebecca
you're an interested dm. But anyway, speaking of outside people commenting, people have commented questions for you and Jonathan. They have wanting to know a little bit of the more private life that you two have. Maybe what he knows, what he doesn't know, maybe what you know, what you don't know about each other.
Katie
I did put a little thing up on Facebook. That's generally where I put things, by the way, for those that don't know, Facebook gets everything like TikTok is like all videos. Snapchat is like stories. Facebook gets like the town photos, you know, like alerts and things like that. Anyway, so I posted something on Facebook and I was like, what do you want to know? And I checked on it this morning and made like a little list. But I think they have it pulled up and they're going to maybe surprise us with some questions. So we'll see how this goes. I'm just going to start it off by asking you, how did your hunting trip go? Because this past week he left me for seven full days and went to Canada.
Jonathan
So it was a lot of fun. And it would fix our issue of daylight because it was only about four and a half hours of darkness each night.
Rebecca
What was that like to experience? Because I've always wanted to like, I. You see it like all the time. It's like what it's like to be like daylight all the time.
Jonathan
We had a really weird schedule. We would hunt till about one in the morning or midnight or so as it started getting dark. Then we'd eat dinner at like 2am and then hang out for a minute, go to sleep at 3:30, 4:00 in the morning as it was getting daylight, go sleep and then get up for breakfast at, like, noon. And then we'd hang out for a minute and start hunting at, like, two o'clock in the afternoon. And we'd hunt till about midnight again every day. And it was really cool. I did not come home with a bear, but it wasn't for lack of opportunity. I could have taken a couple bears, but I was really hell bent on shooting one with my bow. And that was.
Katie
He saw a mama with three cubs, and they all stood up and looked at him from like 100ft away.
Jonathan
It was so cool. Saw a lot of color phase bears in that area. I was in northern Alberta and staying in wall tents with some really, really.
Katie
Was it super cold at night?
Jonathan
It got cold. I like, it would be like 76 degrees during the day sometimes, and it would get down in, like, the mid-30s. It was. It swings. So we were setting a big. Like, we had a stove in our tent and we'd, like, crank it up.
Katie
Y' all would just huddle for warmth, kind of snuggle.
Jonathan
I mean, by morning, by, like, the time we got up, it was actually cold. And then it would kind of warm up into late afternoon. Like, it peaked. Like, the temperature peaked at, like, 7pm
Katie
he was hunting with two of our friends. Levi, who does our taxidermy, and he's fantastic dude. And then Tristan, who y' all might know as Yappy.
Jonathan
Yeah, he's Yappy Tuan on YouTube.
Katie
So I didn't even know he was like, a big deal when we met him.
Jonathan
A lot of people know where. Who he is.
Katie
I didn't know he was a big deal for a long time. And then, like, we were out somewhere and he got stopped and had someone take a picture with him. And I was like, everywhere we go,
Jonathan
somebody stops him and says, hey, he wants a picture or something.
Katie
So I. I hope they make it. Even though y' all didn't, you know, have a bear, I hope they're a lot of fun. I mean, I hope he makes a video out of it.
Jonathan
I saw 23 bears. Oh, wow. He'll put up a YouTube video the whole week. It was. It's a lot of fun.
Rebecca
That's really cool.
Jonathan
Well, but my sleep schedule is way off. I got home.
Katie
That brings me to. I know I'm a sweet wife who had a steak dinner waiting on you. Not that I cooked. I Ordered it.
Jonathan
It was nice.
Katie
I didn't cook it, I ordered it. Okay, so that brings me to. I have some questions for you. And not that I frequently look at the Reddit pages, I don't, but I have some people that will tell me things every now and then. I honestly tell them, like, don't tell me what's on there, but sometimes when it's funny, they tell me. And one of the funny things is they're like, oh, yeah, everyone on Reddit is convinced that you just have Jonathan, like a workhorse just working every day. He doesn't. Like, they're like, she gets all the kid. Like, he doesn't even get a dog he wants. He doesn't get to do anything. I just don't tell y' all when he's gone. So you don't come skin me. Like, like I just wait until after he comes home to tell you. Like, oh, yeah, Jonathan's on a week long hunting trip because I don't want someone to come, like, scalp me in my.
Nate
Jonathan's gone.
Rebecca
Get her.
Katie
Literally. So, yeah, don't feel bad for him. He just went on a bear hunt for a week. Okay.
Rebecca
But he'll make up.
Jonathan
You want me to set the record straight on some of.
Rebecca
Well, some of that.
Nate
My first questions from the comments was, does Jonathan feel neglected and used?
Jonathan
No.
Katie
No, it is not.
Jonathan
No, not at all.
Rebecca
Who's with four laughing faces?
Nate
With four laughing.
Katie
Okay, okay. Yeah.
Rebecca
And do you use was in quotations?
Jonathan
We have some really good guys and we have one in particular, his name is Wesley. That kind of is the tip of the spear on the majority of the construction that we do. And a lot of people think that I build all the structures, which is not the case. I have a big hand.
Katie
Some of them.
Jonathan
Yeah, some of them. But, like, I don't build all the barns, you know, so he's got several guys that we work together with our guys. And yes, I am busy, like crazy busy, but I am not Keddie's workhorse. I have plenty of free time. I am very blessed with what I get to go and do.
Katie
This feels like one of those situations where it's like someone has the phone and you're like, I promise, I'm happy here. And behind the camera I'm like, say it.
Jonathan
No, that's not the case at all. I mean, we, we, we need the kind of days that we're in Alberta with four hours of darkness. We could really get a lot more done because we can never get enough done. But we do have a Lot of fun. And I'm not just a. A servant to your needs.
Katie
I mean, sub baby, take me out to dinner. Hey, yo.
Rebecca
Anyway, so another one that is interesting that I saw that I don't think we've ever brought up unless you had more that you wanted to address. I don't know if we've ever really addressed this, maybe with you, but do either of you have like, any extreme phobias?
Katie
Oh, I really don't mess with clowns.
Rebecca
Maybe we have talked about that with you, but I remember, like, there was.
Katie
I really don't.
Rebecca
Yeah, I know that there's some subjects that we have to steer clear from.
Katie
I don't.
Jonathan
I can't really think of it.
Katie
And I. And ghost stuff.
Nate
So like it.
Katie
You know how I've told you. Yeah, no, but you know how, like, I start crying during ghost stories, like,
Rebecca
paranormal stuff, which is so, like. It's like. I don't know if that's like, sad. I don't know how to feel for that because I think that's so funny. But like, in like, not making. Not a making fun of you way, but just like, I think that's like. That's one of my favorite qualities of you.
Katie
I. Well, same kind of deal. So, like, in the time that the clowns were out and about.
Rebecca
Oh, dude. Oh, my God. Dude. I forgot about dude that had you like, in the house.
Katie
Like, I, like. Rebecca has a video of me sobbing, talking about it.
Jonathan
Really?
Katie
Somewhere. I mean, it was like, what, 2015?
Rebecca
You want to talk about 2014?
Katie
2015? Like, I, like, there's a video of me like, sobbing, talking about the clowns. And she's like. Like, my mom and dad would like, make fun of it. They would exacerbate it, like, because they would be like, hey, Katie, did you see the clown? Like, they were absolutely terrorizing me.
Nate
One spotted in Nolensville.
Rebecca
Seriously? Seriously.
Katie
And then I used to run at night at school like a dumb person in Green Hills.
Jonathan
I cannot believe you used to do that.
Katie
I used to run until like, 2:00am Yeah, I know.
Nate
Oh, my gosh.
Katie
I know. Just me and my five. Two little roommate just out there.
Rebecca
That's a horror movie having a great time.
Katie
And I'm like, so the clowns scared me, but not enough to keep me indoors at night. Like, what the heck? Yeah, I. No one said I was smart.
Nate
We used to. We used to drive around and try to like, catch one.
Rebecca
I never saw one.
Nate
We'd be like, oh, there's one on woods. And we would like, load up and get in the car.
Katie
Was there ever actual crimes, you know, or was it just that people were spotting them, like out in the woods with knives?
Rebecca
I'm sure. I'm sure there was a few cases, but I think generally that was one of the more safer. Like pants. Like, I don't think anybody really got too messed up over it. Now that may not be true.
Katie
I was gonna say, I don't speak intelligently. Hoaxes, like people posing out in the woods and you know what I'm saying?
Rebecca
2016, it says.
Jonathan
Yes, definitely a thing.
Nate
During the infamous 2016 clown craze, there were multiple, well documented instances of clown related crimes and pranks.
Katie
Were there like stabbings?
Rebecca
At least 12. At least 12 arrests for threats, stalking and harassment.
Nate
Brandished weapons.
Katie
So they were just creepily walking around.
Rebecca
Technically crime, but I don't know if anybody was dying.
Katie
I see.
Rebecca
But anyway.
Katie
Okay, this is clown purge. I guess like a more funny question. So a lot of people, when they. Like this kidding season we had, we had a couple of does do like Honey and. Or nose. Well, Honey lost hers, but it was B and Blossom who were gonna have their babies. And they're like, if they have twins, you have to name them ham and cheese. Because the last time that we got on here and talked, that was what you said. You were like, I want to. What was it? Did we do a bet or something? I can't remember. There was some reason that he. I had to name something Ham and Cheese. Yeah, there was.
Jonathan
Did we talk about that in the last podcast? It's been a couple years.
Katie
There was a statute limitations, though. Like, we've passed it. It's like we've. We're past that.
Jonathan
I've always said Ham and Cheese would be a great name for, you know, a newborn duo. And still. What we've had, you know, 50, 60 animals born since then. No ham and cheese. No ham and cheese.
Katie
Oh, you. You're taking the opposite take. Okay, Doubling down cuz before he's like, no, baby, I don't care. And now
Jonathan
we need a ham and cheese ham. I. I say it every time.
Katie
We rehearsed this differently. And we were supposed to be off the ham and cheese train. So Bella is having twin. Like at least twins. And that was always my, like, scapegoat was I was like, oh, it has to be twins. It can't be triplets. Can't be a singleton.
Jonathan
I don't really care. But at some point, how.
Nate
How many likes on the video to get a ham and cheese?
Rebecca
And you would. I mean any, like, you know, the average.
Katie
So I really don't. On YouTube, I don't think I've paid attention that much.
Nate
How many. How many likes on this video for ham and cheese?
Katie
40,000 likes or views? Likes.
Rebecca
Likes. All right.
Nate
All right. 40,000.
Katie
So that's like, for Bella.
Rebecca
Yeah, yeah.
Katie
When she do September.
Jonathan
Oh, yeah.
Nate
Oh, yeah.
Jonathan
We definitely do it by then. Let's get a ham and cheese.
Katie
No, it's not like, by then. Like, this video, like we say, like, in the first week.
Jonathan
Oh, no.
Nate
Two weeks.
Rebecca
If it gets 40,000 likes by noon or by 1:00 clock after an hour is posted.
Katie
Okay. Then we'll just do it until she has the babies.
Nate
Okay. All right. All right.
Katie
Okay, fine. 40,000 is a lot.
Rebecca
It is a lot.
Jonathan
I'm not worried about it.
Rebecca
It's a lot.
Jonathan
We can do it.
Katie
That's a lot.
Rebecca
One might say unattainable.
Katie
Okay. What did he pull up, our average likes?
Rebecca
He pulled up his YouTube channel, and I just saw 7, 800 subscribers.
Nate
I was like, Estimated revenue, 53 cents.
Rebecca
He was like, oh, no.
Nate
Oh, no.
Katie
All right, here we go.
Nate
That's me.
Katie
Okay. So speaking of projects, there's a couple of questions surrounding the projects that you handle here on the farm at Running Springs, on the mini farm, like, just in general. So a couple of them are kind of funny. Couple of them are really serious. So one question that a lot of people are curious about is like, do you take outside jobs anymore?
Jonathan
So, like this week, for example, I have to go back to a previous client and fix some stone work that he actually broke with his mower that I did a couple years ago.
Katie
Do you actually have to fix that?
Jonathan
I told him I would. I told him if he got the stone, that I was a good guy. So occasionally I have a couple clients that need me to do something just, you know, off the cuff. But no, it's been two years or so.
Katie
I think about two years.
Jonathan
About two years since I've taken jobs. You know, when we decided that at a certain point I would focus more on what Katie's doing, we had so many needs around the farm and so many projects like fencing structures that needed to be done that I stayed a little over a year, booked out all the time, and at a certain point, we said were too busy to continue this. Your side of things, the horse and cattle side of things, need more attention than what they're getting. So I finished out the jobs that I had. I think at that time I was like 14 months booked out. That was into the 14 months was about two years ago. And since then I've done some little jobs here and there for like my OG clients. But as of right now, no, what I am doing is referring out the people that still contact me to a lot of my buddies in the business and getting them a lot of work. And so it's not like I have no contact with clients. I, I get them a lot of work. But no, my sole focus now is
Katie
because when I met you, you had full on care cruise and then you were doing really large like, what would you call it, like commercial retaining wall jobs, like for new build houses and
Jonathan
for a lot of commercial contracts. We were cutting grass, we had landscape crews, we had hardscape crews, we did excavation. I mean anything from clearing land to digging ponds to.
Katie
So that's still why all the retaining walls and patios and all the things that the farmer so beautiful.
Jonathan
Because it kind of rolled right into what needed to be done around here. I mean there's a lot of stuff that has just been kind of neglected. It's not the right word, but kind of set aside, not upgraded. Yeah. And so, you know, I already had a lot of the equipment to roll right into what we need, what we needed to do here like build retaining walls and fencing and barns and.
Katie
Oh yeah, we're about to fence.
Jonathan
We got another five miles of fencing.
Katie
We about to do summer.
Jonathan
I know. Actually tomorrow I'm starting on the, the new riding arena outside the newborn.
Katie
Awesome.
Nate
Did it, did it make you anxious at all to step out of the commercial projects?
Jonathan
Not necessarily. I do miss it. I love building things and getting paid for what I built with my hands and seeing happy customers and improving their living space. I really enjoy doing patios and outdoor kitchens and things like that that were aesthetically pleasing. You know, a lot of the work we did was like drainage work. You can't really see that. It just makes, you know, makes people's lives easier. But they don't really like spending money on it. I liked the more esthetic stuff that make people excited. Yeah, it looked pretty that people would get excited about getting completed, but yeah.
Katie
I remember when we first started dating and like when we were early, like I think like engaged maybe, and you weren't doing as many walls, you were doing more patios and you'd have me come out to each patio to come see him. It was so.
Jonathan
It was fun.
Katie
It was cute. So with that being said, this was an. It might be kind of hard for you to answer, but this was a really good question that Someone on Facebook asked, and they said, what are you most proud of yourself? What are you most proud of me for, and what are you most proud of? Something that we built together.
Rebecca
Something blue. Something. I don't know, the other ones.
Jonathan
Okay.
Katie
It's old.
Jonathan
It's okay.
Katie
New.
Rebecca
New.
Jonathan
Proud of with me. Proud of with you. Proud of with us.
Katie
Yes.
Jonathan
Prado. With me is I've always been about impact and positive impact in other people's lives. And I feel like the business that I built, I was able to do that. I was able to go into people, like, come into their lives and help them with a need that made them happy. As far as, like, people that live in a subdivision wanted an outdoor patio for them to have a little more space to hang out outside, enjoy their own home more, or doing. Doing things for people that they couldn't do on their own. There was a lot of, especially, like, older, like, elderly women that needed some major help on their properties that I loved helping them. They were always so appreciative. I've just always been about impact. As far as you. When I met you, social media wasn't a thing, but you did have a small following. And I could see right away that people just enjoyed watching your life and how you carried yourself, how you interacted with your animals and other people. And that's obviously grown on an exponential level and kind of the same thing. Impact. How many people come up to you and say, you know, you're such a good influence on my daughter. We watch you every day. You know, she wants to be just like you. Or women that come up to you and say, you know, I. You bring me so much joy in my life. Just, you know, see, seeing your life, I think as far as us, I think that we're building something that we're just getting started, that it's kind of happened so fast. Very proud of being able to employ so many people and, you know, just be in so many people's lives again. Going back to impact, but I really think we're just getting started, and it's really been a whirlwind the last 10 years. It doesn't feel like 10 years.
Katie
It feels like technically it's nine and a half.
Jonathan
Getting close to a decade, and it's really flown by, and I feel like we've been having fun the whole time, and I'm just proud of what. Not what we built, what we're continuing to build.
Katie
That was a good way to put it. Hold on. Okay, so going off of what we're continuing to build what's your dream project? Because I mean, I just want to go off of like, like you wanted to focus so much on impact. Like even before I had my own business, like you employed friends, family, like, you know, it definitely brought this like really cool environment and opportunities to people around you, which I think is amazing. And in, in that like you're so talented with stonework, with any type of fricking machines, with looking at a piece of land and turning this barren piece of land into like a work of art. It's actually insane how talented he is. And so with all of that being said, like what, like if you could just pick a project that's a dream, like what would you do?
Jonathan
So I've really enjoyed the shop build and obviously the like this podcast room is in it. I have a workshop. We have like more of a workspace now that's multi use. I look forward to someday. You know, eventually we're going to outgrow this at some point and get to do this over. And there was some mistakes that I made with this build and there's some things we didn't add. And I someday I really want to pour my heart and soul into a multifunctional building that encompasses all the things we left out, all the things that we could have done better. And I think it'd be a really fun space as we continue to grow to have different sections of that building or different sections of that facility that really hone in on the needs of our business and life going forward. I think that would be the most fun because we did a lot of things right, but we could have done a lot of things different.
Katie
Yeah. Including the upstairs being not like seven foot ceilings.
Jonathan
Yeah. I mean, I mean just little things like that. Like where the podcast room is. You know, I got like this far above my head where the ceiling is, where if we would have done 18 foot sides. Yeah. On the, or 18 foot walls instead of 16 foot walls. Just little things like that that we could tweak. But I think that'll be a lot of fun when that time comes. I don't know. I'm down for all kinds of projects. I mean, I'm, I look at everything interesting.
Katie
I would have thought that you would have said something with stone.
Jonathan
I mean, I love doing stone work. I, you know, I take every project head on. Everything's like, I love adult puzzles, how to, how to see a need, fix a need.
Katie
Like one thing that we dream about is. I mean this is way in the future. But eventually, like you said, if we Grow. We move. We build. I want a pool.
Rebecca
I was just about to say I want a pool.
Katie
And I want, like. I know.
Nate
Yeah.
Katie
You've got all the goods to make it, like, a really cool pool.
Jonathan
Yeah.
Katie
Yeah.
Jonathan
Like, here first. In the future, our pool will be slick.
Katie
Slick.
Nate
Like, are we talking about for you, a pool?
Katie
Yes. But I will let y'. All. I'll let y' all use it.
Nate
I don't know why. I was thinking about Kennedy's pond.
Jonathan
I. I am looking forward to designing a pool.
Katie
Okay. So you joke, but, like, little salt water, slash, when we do move, I will be consulting someone on how to include ponds into a couple of pastures. Because not. Not every pasture needs a pond, but, like, if you go to Texas or whatever, like, there's ponds.
Jonathan
Yeah.
Katie
All over the place. I feel like in. In pastures, and so you can do it in a more safe way than what we just naturally have here in Tennessee. Like, the rocks and stuff. So they'd be bougie ponds. They'd be very, like, cushy ones that we built specifically. Not to cripple my horses, but, yeah, I think she will get her pond at some point. So you brought up that we've been together almost ten years.
Jonathan
Yep. Nine and a half, to be exact.
Katie
Nine and a half years. We're a little over nine and a half, actually.
Jonathan
Thank you.
Nate
That's how long you've been together? Total.
Katie
Yeah. Did you know it's our wedding anniversary, like, next week?
Jonathan
Yeah, I actually thought about that last week.
Katie
I haven't gotten you anything. I forgot, like, so much stuff has been happening that I'm like, oh, my gosh. We've been like, that's our wedding anniversary.
Nate
I don't know if I was supposed to share, but he did say he had something pretty cool planned for you.
Rebecca
Big.
Katie
Huge.
Jonathan
Appreciate it.
Rebecca
Bigger than you. Bigger than any other anniversary present you've ever had. It's something that's gonna blow you out of the world.
Nate
Yeah. He was so appreciative about the bear trip.
Katie
These earrings were the last one.
Jonathan
Thanks. Six days out.
Nate
Oh, that.
Jonathan
That was.
Rebecca
That was trash, dude. Compared to this one. Trash
Katie
or. So that's our six year wedding anniversary, which is crazy.
Rebecca
Like, it feels like, like, a time goes by here so much. Like, like, he was like. He was like, I haven't been on a podcast in, like, two years. I was like, it feels like we. This has all just been one long year.
Katie
Yes. Like, it's like, it's because we don't take breaks.
Rebecca
Maybe that's It.
Nate
Yeah, I think that's it.
Katie
It's because there's no breaks, so there's no time away.
Rebecca
It's like, oh, it's just Christmas again this year. You know, it's just like, there we go.
Jonathan
It does feel like.
Katie
And so, like, we. We've been married six years almost, and then our, like, together 10 years is in November. We used to say some, like, BS date of our dating date, and now we just go off the day we met. Because the day we met, it was. It was done, done deal.
Jonathan
Pretty much seen you every day since
Katie
you did go kiss a girl the next day after you met me, but then you came right back. Remember that?
Jonathan
Nope.
Katie
You don't remember going downtown the next day and kissing a girl, but you told me about it, which was odd.
Jonathan
I definitely did.
Katie
Definitely then. But then after that, we were together, like, every day, and we were dating, and I remember being like a month in, and I went to get my nails done because Danny came into town to go to, like, our little Christmas trip, and we went to go get our nails done, and I was like, I'm gonna get my nails done like this when I marry Jonathan. And she's like, girl, you've been with this boy for, like, a month. So I knew.
Jonathan
I knew right away.
Katie
But anyway, with that being said, how they want to know, how have I changed? Because you met me at 20 and now I'm 30. So isn't that crazy? How have I changed? Boy, not physically, necessarily, because I was very hot at 20. Okay, that's just. That's gone. Gone.
Jonathan
Still very hot.
Katie
Oh, thank you.
Jonathan
It's been fun watching you grow into and adapt into that role of,
Katie
you
Jonathan
know, being in the public eye, having employees, having to make decisions that you never thought you would. Being an animal owner of a large volume of animals and not just a few being. People depend on you. Animals depend on you. There's lives at stake with every decision, and you've really grown into that role over the last 10 years.
Katie
So I, like, made a post the night before I turned 30 where I was kind of, like, reflecting on my 20s and just talking about, like, okay, entering my 20s. Here are. Here. This is the state that I was in when I entered into my 20s. So that was before I met you. Cause I was, like, six months into being 20 when I met you. And then, like, here I am at 30, and at 20, I, like. I don't. Had I been kicked out of college yet when you met me?
Jonathan
No. You were still just a few months after I Met you. You stopped going to college.
Katie
Because they asked me to,
Nate
because you
Jonathan
didn't have a choice.
Katie
So I. I, like, was in a pretty not great spot.
Jonathan
Well, I remember you, like, trying to figure out what direction you wanted to go in. I mean, you could have worked for your dad. I remember the exact moment in time when you came to me and said, I think I want to give this social media thing a shot. And at that point, it was more like hunting industry focused. But I remember the exact point in time that you came to me and said that. And I also remember the exact moment in time when you came to me and said, I want to do more lifestyle stuff with social media.
Katie
That would have been more like 20, 22.
Jonathan
Yeah, yeah. Four or five years ago. That just. Both. I just remember. I remember everything about it, and it was very defining moments in our lives.
Nate
Yeah.
Rebecca
Jonathan's the OG of OGs, and, well, that's the thing.
Katie
So when he met me, I have like 4, 000 followers on Instagram, which I think is like, small fry. I think that's for a regular. For a person who isn't trying to make social media part of their life. I feel like 4, 000 followers is like a good little chunk.
Rebecca
It is, yeah.
Nate
For sure.
Katie
And it was purely off of, like, horse show people. Yeah.
Jonathan
You've been doing some vine videos and things like that.
Katie
I was vine famous. I had like 20, 000 on there just from singing. And so I didn't know at that point that you could even, like, make money on social media. I didn't. That wasn't a plan.
Jonathan
Like, I don't think back then you really could. It was just like, right. Right on the cusp of, like, influencers. Like, I'm sure youtubers were getting brand deals. It was like the tipping point of social media being like the death of billboards and magazines. And now that's how everybody advertises.
Katie
Well, I would say it happened like I met you in November. My, like, picture that blew up blew up in April, and then I didn't make a dime until September. So I was almost a year into meeting you when, you know, stuff started happening. So you were here pre social media?
Jonathan
Yep, I was.
Katie
You weren't just looking for a sugar mama or nothing?
Jonathan
No, I got one.
Nate
They. They want to know if. If you can. You know, you always ask him to name the horses, but can you name his tools?
Katie
There's. He has more tools than I have animals.
Rebecca
I promise that would be cool to get a small assortment like a bucket
Katie
I can name some of his equipment.
Jonathan
Next podcast, I'm just gonna start.
Rebecca
Yeah, I've seen that trend.
Nate
What is this?
Katie
I know he, he has two excavators. I know he has two skid steers. I know he has a John Deere tractor. I know they're all of his, like skid steers and his mini skids and all that. Good stuff or. No, your mini skid. Isn't it Vermeer?
Jonathan
It's a Vermeer. Yeah. I am shocked that you knew that.
Katie
See that other stuff is cat caterpillar. Yeah, maybe that could be.
Jonathan
That. That in itself is pretty good.
Katie
And then truck wise, I think we've
Jonathan
got a bunch of white for a
Katie
bunch of white Fords, a bunch of seven threes.
Nate
I would, I would equate this to somewhat knowing that it's a horse. You'd be like, he's got an excavator. Well, Katie, she's got a guy that's.
Katie
I know. So the one.
Nate
This would be like, well, what's the model name? Like, what's the model name?
Katie
The excavator that he just got is the. The biggest mini X. No, no, it's the smallest regular X.
Nate
Sounds like we need to do this.
Katie
231.
Jonathan
Oh, 323.
Katie
323. I'm just disliked.
Nate
Now, see, this is naming the horses.
Rebecca
Yeah. What do you mean?
Jonathan
It's.
Rebecca
It's. It's from two years ago. You watched it happen?
Katie
Yeah, I. I guess I should.
Jonathan
I'm not worried about it.
Rebecca
Like, I guess go look out there more.
Katie
We have a dump truck named Dump Lynn, you dumpling.
Nate
You can pick the 10.
Katie
Dumpling.
Nate
You can pick whatever 10 things you think she can't name, and you can pick 10 things that you think he can't name.
Katie
Speaking of.
Nate
And you can compete.
Katie
Speaking of, one of the things people want me to do is start a timer and see how many horses you can name in a minute.
Jonathan
All right, let's go.
Katie
Okay. What. We need to establish some prizes, I think, for like, okay, if you can name 10, if you hit, 20 if you hit.
Rebecca
You know, it's a bigger stuff.
Jonathan
Let's try it.
Katie
Like, I think.
Jonathan
I don't think I can even get half of them, but we can, we can work. We can try it.
Katie
I mean, honestly, in a minute, which is 60 seconds, I think there's over. There's like around 40 horses too.
Jonathan
Or just big horses.
Katie
I would allow. I would allow minis.
Rebecca
Yeah, you have to throw in the mini.
Katie
I would allow Minis. So let's just actually go ahead and get a little. Little timer up on here.
Nate
Okay.
Jonathan
I'm Gonna got about 15 seconds. Hold on. And then I'm gonna be like.
Rebecca
I thought it was word for word.
Nate
Okay, you've got the timer.
Katie
Are we. Okay, so should we do it? Where? I guess I can't really make it to where it's like. See if y' all can do more because you're gonna hear him name and then it's gonna be.
Nate
I think it's him. Yeah.
Jonathan
Yep. Let's do it.
Katie
It's just gotta be him. Okay. Three, two, one. Go.
Jonathan
Bo. Beyonce. Ginger. Erlene. Whalen. Whalen. Denver. Maggie. Trudy. Regina. Karen. Glenn. I knew I'd blank on a bunch of them.
Katie
I'm so impressed, though.
Jonathan
See, I can envision several others. Oh, my goodness.
Katie
You're good.
Rebecca
Red horse.
Katie
Calm down. I can't stay calm.
Jonathan
I can't remember. He's already beat paint horses. Oh, my goodness.
Nate
I know one.
Jonathan
I know. I know so many more.
Katie
Do you?
Jonathan
Yeah. Being put on the spot, I was really confident that I'd get a lot more.
Katie
Well, you could have probably done some more. We're almost there. You have five seconds. Throw one more in there.
Jonathan
That's bad.
Katie
All right.
Jonathan
What? I get nine?
Katie
No, you got 12. 12.
Jonathan
I think I can name a lot more than that.
Rebecca
That is a thing, though. Some of it. We used to play a game, was like, name 10 magazines in 30 seconds or 10 cereals. Everybody knows 10 cereals. Everybody knows 10 colors until your time for 30 seconds, and then it's freaking hard.
Nate
You say like, the three you know and can't remember anything.
Jonathan
I didn't even say Annie or Gracie.
Katie
No.
Rebecca
Sophie, Charlotte.
Jonathan
Yeah, I mean that.
Katie
Melody, Kimberly, Molly, Maggie, Daphne, Wally.
Jonathan
Like, taller black ones.
Katie
Wheezy.
Jonathan
Yeah.
Nate
Indy.
Jonathan
Indy was the one I was stuck on.
Rebecca
It was already said.
Jonathan
See, there were so many.
Katie
Opal.
Rebecca
Opal. After a while, you'll be able to just pull out.
Nate
Happy Kennedy. Happy.
Jonathan
Wow.
Katie
Happy Buttercup.
Jonathan
Easy ones.
Katie
Blondie, Ariel.
Jonathan
Blondie and Ariel were. I was trying to think. I got stuck trying to.
Katie
Monica.
Jonathan
I got. I was trying to think of Indy and Gracie, and that's what held me up.
Katie
Well, I think you did better than I thought.
Jonathan
I. I really had more than 12 in me.
Katie
Okay. This year we had seven foals. Can you name them?
Jonathan
No.
Katie
Just no. No. Not even trying.
Jonathan
I honestly can't really.
Rebecca
I.
Katie
You were there for every single birth.
Jonathan
I know,
Rebecca
but it was action packed.
Nate
But to be fair, they, they're not named at the birth.
Jonathan
Yeah.
Rebecca
Am I the only one who might have a hot take of, like, I feel like maybe I was more attached to a certain round of FS than the others.
Katie
Like, I, I, what's your fs, what's your full round like?
Rebecca
And maybe it's like more like the season, the foing season. Like, I don't feel like necessarily this was like, this was probably, like, it was a great fing season, but, like, wasn't my favorite. Like, my favorite fs, not my most. I don't remember lot of them who
Nate
were my favorite was season two.
Rebecca
I think the second one was the most.
Katie
So 20, 24. So that'd be when Molly, Wally, Daphne.
Nate
Yeah.
Katie
Fred Howe, and.
Nate
And I think you'll notice when the. All the jokes I make were like, Fred earlier in the thing. Like, those are the names that I,
Rebecca
I think, like, after that, it started just becoming something that was like, getting used to.
Katie
Also. I will say, with the addition of Elena on the team, y' all don't really go out in the pasture, just take pictures anymore.
Nate
Yeah, not as much. So we're not knowing the names and
Katie
we can change that.
Jonathan
I think the one that sticks out in my mind is Penelope, because that was the first one that me and you did by ourselves with no outside help. And Trudy did it standing up.
Katie
Yeah.
Jonathan
And that was just so stressful because it was the first one ever we had done. Just us two.
Katie
Yeah. I remember because we were like, oh, crap, she's gonna have her freaking baby. And this was like we had just met. Like, this was fresh into us.
Nate
Yeah.
Katie
Meeting. And so we went to walgreens at like 11 o' clock at night to go get enemas, because I didn't have any enemas.
Jonathan
Yep.
Katie
Yeah. Just freaking raw dogging it. So we talked a little bit about the public eye and, you know, talking about how I've adapted. But how have, how have you felt during this whole thing? Because, I mean, pretty quickly into us being together, I was, I was having followers. I was having people watch, you know, for new posts and including our relationship in it in, in times. And we were hunting and we were going to all these, you know, trade shows. And I don't know, like, I feel like. I feel like we didn't have that much of, like a. Like we weren't, like, watched, watched until the last few years. But, I mean, I don't know. How do you. How do you feel about that?
Jonathan
I mean, I can remember it being an adjustment Right away. You know, I never really cared about like the floods of dms from guys shooting their shot or anything when they first, when you first kind of got more attention and people would come up to you. I, I didn't really know what to think at the time. You know, I'm obviously very used to it now, especially the last couple years. It's kind of gone nuclear. But, you know, I, I haven't changed myself. You haven't changed yourself. We've always been a team, always trust each other like a, it hasn't really affected me. You know, I've obviously worried about your safety to an extent, being in the public eye, but for the most part haven't really given it a thought about, you know, that it's changed much in our lives. You know, we get people. I run people off from the farm that, you know, are rude and pull in, right. Trying to be creepy or whatever, and I go run them off pretty regularly.
Katie
One thing that I think that has kept, I don't know, it kind of out of our relationship to an extent is we're not like a, like, like, yes, it is lifestyle because it's about my lifestyle as a horse breeder and as like a equestrian and as like a farm caretaker and whatnot. But like, we're not, we're not blasting our, our relationship on, on socials. So like people can speculate about whatever they want, but we're not, I'm not like if we get in a fight or whatever. Neither one of us is going on there, being like, I'm so pissed about this and da, da, da, da.
Jonathan
A lot of couples, you know, are kind of in the public eye together and it's more you than me. But a lot of people or a lot of couples, you know, air all their stuff out for views, right? And you know, we keep kind of that part of our lives separate. So it's not everybody doesn't know everything, even though they might think they do.
Katie
Speaking of that, one of the questions was, what do you find most annoying about Katie then?
Rebecca
What's your favorite thing about.
Katie
No, that wasn't actually on there.
Rebecca
We'll follow it with that.
Jonathan
Annoying.
Katie
Is it my chronic lateness?
Jonathan
I would say that that is. I've learned how to combat that. If, if we have to be somewhere at 8 o', clock, I tell her we have to be there at 7:15. And typically a 45 minute buffer is, is pretty good. I mean, I, I've adapted in ways,
Katie
improvise, I adapt, overcome.
Jonathan
I hate being late. I'm very Punctual on not being late. I like to be early, and I married somebody who is always late, and I just had to work around that.
Katie
I don't try to be late.
Jonathan
I.
Rebecca
It's just your concept of time.
Jonathan
It's just who you are.
Katie
I don't try. Like, I really, like. I will. I will think that I have plenty of time, and it Just. Because it's been long enough, I want to see how. I want to see how many horses y' all can rattle off. But at first off, I want to know, because I didn't give you all the answers. Who thinks that they can name the 2026 falls?
Rebecca
It's certainly been long enough for me to. Completely forgot.
Katie
That's what I'm saying. You've forgotten now.
Nate
Yeah. I cannot name the 2026 falls. I can name. Oh, my know, Max, maybe three. I can definitely do two. I can definitely do two.
Katie
I mean, we literally went over their names today for a video, but I
Nate
was focused on the other aspects of everything.
Rebecca
I really don't think I could.
Katie
I'm gonna start the. I'm gonna start.
Rebecca
Give me one.
Katie
No.
Jonathan
Yeah, yeah.
Rebecca
Like, just F. 20, 26.
Nate
I can get. I can give you one.
Katie
Moose.
Rebecca
Moose was this year.
Nate
Yeah.
Jonathan
Yeah.
Rebecca
He was a big one. I feel like there's always a moose every year. Technically, there's always a bigger boy. Maybe it was Wally one year.
Jonathan
Wally Wonder.
Nate
When was Moose born?
Katie
January 31, 2026.
Nate
Hey. So big.
Katie
Yeah.
Rebecca
And also, he looks like a horse
Katie
already, so I'm gonna time you 30 seconds. Nope, we're giving you a minute.
Nate
Okay.
Rebecca
Us. Collectively.
Katie
Collectively.
Rebecca
Okay.
Nate
All right. Yeah.
Katie
Collectively. All right. Three, two, one, go.
Rebecca
So, Moose.
Nate
Wait, just the foals.
Katie
Oh, my gosh.
Rebecca
And if one's struggling, tap in.
Katie
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Alternate.
Nate
But is this just the foals or just everybody?
Katie
All horses. All horses.
Nate
All right.
Katie
Okay. Three, two, one, go.
Rebecca
Sophie, Charlotte, Trudy, Gracie, Happy,
Nate
Raven, Indy, Gunner, Melody, Denver, Waylon, Happy. You said.
Katie
No, you already said happy.
Rebecca
Happy. Give me a girl. Wally.
Katie
Give me a girl.
Nate
Benedict. Benedict, Molly,
Rebecca
Opal. We already said Charlotte, right?
Katie
Yes.
Rebecca
Okay. What's the other black one? Not Raven.
Katie
You already said Indy, Phoebe.
Rebecca
Yeah.
Nate
Okay.
Rebecca
Phoebe, Ethel, Annie, Kennedy.
Nate
We are still Kennedy.
Katie
No.
Rebecca
Oh.
Katie
Foals. Falls.
Rebecca
Foals.
Nate
I'm not thinking old ones.
Rebecca
We don't have anymore time. Okay, that was nice. That was good.
Nate
That was okay.
Katie
19.
Nate
19.
Rebecca
Okay.
Katie
So collectively, you both got.
Rebecca
My own.
Jonathan
I was gonna say they got seven more than me. Together on my.
Rebecca
On my own. Would have. Would have.
Nate
I think I could have done that.
Rebecca
The time would have. Would have crushed me more than anything. I would like the pressure of the time. I wouldn't be able to name one. I don't think having. Having him at my side, I felt a lot more.
Nate
Yeah, I think we did better, but
Katie
I can do anything together.
Nate
I was confident.
Katie
I think you could have on my side just really gave me the confidence.
Nate
That's right.
Katie
That's teamwork.
Jonathan
I can't believe that I couldn't think of Gracie, Annie, Ethel, and Kennedy. At least I just blanked.
Katie
Blubbed. All right, well, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Maybe. Maybe you'll come on more. I don't know.
Jonathan
I would love to. Let's make it not two years again.
Rebecca
Yeah, this was a good one.
Katie
Yeah. Yeah, Maybe a year. I don't know. We'll see.
Jonathan
Maybe every other week.
Katie
Good God, that's a lot.
Rebecca
Weekly he hosts him.
Katie
Okay, well, thank you for coming on, baby, because this was very last minute and he's very tired. But I hope you all enjoyed. If you have questions or topics that you would like for us to talk about, put them in the comments and we'll see you in the next one. Also, Jonathan, before we go, did you know that your daughter was here the whole time?
Jonathan
No. Kimmy's been under there the whole time.
Katie
She's just.
Jonathan
Oh, my goodness.
Katie
Big threat. She was the. Just here hanging out the whole time. She's so warm. She's so snuggly.
Jonathan
She didn't move a muscle.
Katie
Her eye. Is your eye shut?
Rebecca
Her eye was like, stuck shut.
Katie
Okay, now we can go.
Host: Katie Van Slyke
Guests: Jonathan (Katie’s husband), Nate, Rebecca
Release Date: June 16, 2026
In this candid, lively episode, Katie Van Slyke takes listeners into the heart of her farm and family life, joined by her husband, Jonathan, and friends Nate and Rebecca. The episode’s core theme revolves around addressing community rumors, sharing authentic stories from Running Springs farm, and giving fans an inside look at their relationships, fears, projects, and fun behind-the-scenes moments—including a fan-fueled debate about naming farm animals "Ham and Cheese." The episode blends humor, heartfelt reflection, playful competitions, and encouragement to connect further with fans.
"Yes, I am busy, like crazy busy, but I am not Katie’s workhorse. I have plenty of free time. I am very blessed with what I get to go and do."
"Encouraged her to play. Thank you. Encouraged her to play. You guys made her more." (03:21)
"This feels like one of those situations where it's like someone has the phone and you're like, 'I promise, I'm happy here.' And behind the camera I'm like, 'Say it.'" (13:39-13:52)
The episode is intimate, energetic, and humorous, marked by authentic conversation, good-natured teasing, and tangible affection among the hosts and guests. The dialogue balances informative farm and business insights with personal anecdotes, interactive games, and responses to community engagement—delivered in the down-to-earth, friendly style that has endeared Katie and her crew to their followers.
This episode is a quintessential slice of Running Springs life—addressing fan rumors, sharing unfiltered stories, airing playful competitions, and offering a genuine look behind the brand’s idyllic surface. It reaffirms the core values of connection, transparency, and fun that define Katie Van Slyke’s brand and community, while extending an open invite for listeners to join in on the adventure, both online and on the farm.
Katie encourages fans to leave comments and questions for future episodes, reminding everyone that authentic connection and conversation are always at the heart of "Katching Up With Katie."