Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Conan Gourley

Episode Date: December 14, 2023

Conan talks to Isabel from southern West Virginia about establishing a self-sustaining homestead and how Conan would fill his time if he were forced off the grid. Wanna get a chance to talk to Conan? Submit here: TeamCoco.com/CallConan

Konan O'Brien needs a fan. Want to talk to Konan? Visit teamkoko.com slash callkonan. Okay, let's get started. Hello. Hi, Isabelle. How are you? Hi, I'm great thanks.

How are you? Uh, we're doing terrific. We were told this might be a difficult connection because you're coming from kind of rural areas, that right? I am. I'm in Appalachia. I'm in Southern West Virginia. Wow. So yeah, the internet's body. Okay, but you you have internet? I don't. I don't have internet or cell service at my house. So my church was kind enough to let me use the office here. Okay, so you have no internet, no cell service at home. You drove to your church

and you're using their cell service that you can talk to us right now from West Virginia. Wow, that's pretty amazing. Thank you for going to all that trouble. I'm just curious if you have no cell service at home and no internet, are you able to listen to this podcast regularly? Yes, so I'm actually a huge fan. I'm a day one listener. I've been living really since 2018 without regular cell service at home.

And podcasts you can download while you're in town and then listen to them at home. So they're my one like real form of entertainment. So yes, I definitely listen regularly. Well, first of all, that's kind of, I love that. I love that that's cool. You know, it's, it actually, as a fan, you're making more of a commitment because you must sometimes drive home.

How long a drive is it for you to get from town to home? It's about 30 to 40 minutes. I can imagine you getting home after 40 minutes and you've got your freshly downloaded Conor Brian needs a friend podcast and listening to it and going oh Wasn't worth 10 minutes or I've made me I have a question to have and more than one podcast you listen to and if so you must have limited time in town What's the like ranking or priority of podcasts that you download?

You know what I mean? Yeah, that's a good point. I do because I do have really limited soul service in town too, so it takes a while to download. So I tried to do a mix of comedy and then educational things. I used to just always have like, I listened to true crime a little bit, but now I have a toddler and no free time, so I can't really put that on the speaker. Same with you guys in all of your Kakaroo jokes. I can only listen to it when he's asleep now.

I know. I keep saying we should have an infant friendly show. A toddler friendly show, and we're trying, but we can never get there. I think it's time that is it a boy or a girl your child? A boy, Gideon. I have another one almost here. Okay, congratulations. I think Gideon needs to learn about true crime. I think it's time Gideon learned that there's bad people out there and there's murders that need solving. And so, two years old. Two years old. Two years old. Two years old.

Yeah. Well, tell me a little bit about your life, because this fascinates me. You were living out on a farm, I'm guessing, in rural part of Western Virginia, is that right? West Virginia. Yeah, rural West Virginia. Southern West Virginia. My husband and I moved here with Gideon two years ago. We moved here to start a farm,

or both first generation farmers, so we're kind of learning it as we go along together. We moved here from Northern California after the Dixie fire. So we kind of just landed on West Virginia and are learning to live here. That is, I am tough to say. I am very impressed.

Farming is difficult. It's really hard work. It's difficult. And the fact that you and your husband are taking this on, I think, is very cool. And impressive. What kind of stuff for you trying to grow on the farm? Thanks. So we're hoping to get to the point of self-sustainability.

Right now we bees were our first major project. We have 13 beehives. We raise chickens. We have beef and dairy cows. We've had turkeys ducks. We're just trying to get to the point where we can either grow or raise all of our own food. Good God. That's very impressive. That is impressive. To be completely self-sustaining. That is something I will never achieve in my life. I'm either constant. I don't know if I will either, but we're working on it. And especially right now, I have to say, I'm less helpful in my third trimester of kind of taking a back seat to all of the dirty farm chores.

Well, I think you have a pretty good excuse. I have found that my rules for survival is there have to be four whole foods within strolling distance, six ATMs, a multiplex. The list goes on and on, but these are just, this is just hardcore simple survival. Right. Those are the only places I will hike or camp, these areas that have all of it. Let me say I do enjoy a whole foods for sure, and the Trader Joe's. Yeah.

It takes some adjusting. I also need soft serve ice cream available at the drop of a hat. I need an REI nearby. You can make your own ice cream and then it's even better and then limited. This sounds impressive. Tell me about the livestock. You said you've got some real livestock. I don't know anything about cows. Nothing. I know nothing about cows. I know that's where the milk comes from and that's all I know. Yeah, so I didn't know anything. Either it's a benefit learning process. Right now we

have five cows that we have a small herd. Actually two of them are cows, which means that they have had calves. So they are milk producers, Betty and Penelope. We have two that were raising for beef, chestnut and midnight. And then we have one heifer, which means she hasn't had a calf yet. And then we have two calves born or do this winter. So, let me ask you a question.

This may seem stupid, but to the ones you're raising for beef, somewhere in the back of their minds, do they know? Yeah, do you treat them differently? Like you don't get emotionally close to them. Yeah, like a new recruit. Have they noticed that you won't look them right in the eye? You're always hugging the milk cows. Do they often show you a picture of their girl back home.

Yeah, and you're like, I don't need to see that. Yeah, you know, I hate to say it, but yeah, I think that there definitely is an emotional distance there. I make sure that they're happy, but I try not to get to attached. Maybe you'll change your mind. I would. I would. That's the fear. Yeah.

Ironic though, that they have a shorter time on earth. They should have a little bit more love in that short time, but you're starving. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, they're very happy. And my son goes out there. He just loves spending time with the cows. I think they get plenty of love. Whenever I do have to say, whenever I taste the meat of an animal that grew up with a lot of love, it's terrible. It's soft. Yeah. It's not good. But there are stakes that I can get. And these are animals that never knew true love. And boy, is that a tender steak? It's a delicious steak. It's a special restaurant Yeah, it's not good, but there are stakes that I can get and these are animals that never knew true love and Boy is that a tender steak?

It's a delicious steak. It's a special restaurant. I go to called loveless You know, it's it's one to do it's it's These are free-range chickens, but they never knew love real love They were just raised in a 1950s suburban house. Yeah, exactly. Oh, I know where they were raised. I'm kidding. Come on, folks.

You get it. It's funny. I have to say, this is, you're living, it's as if, I mean, it could be, I'm sure you have electricity and things like that, but it could be 1850 in some regards in your life, do you know? Yeah, I do joke that it does feel like 1880 for sure. There's a lot of, I mean, charming things, but also annoyances that come with not being connected to the outside world except through a drive. But it is a quiet, happy life.

I feel envious of that. world except through a drive. But it is a quiet, happy life. I feel envious of that. I think maybe the grass is always greener, but I feel like I would love to just do away with all that and be where you are, but I can't, you know. Well, I'm just gonna step in and say that you would die within a month. Yeah.

Of some disease that no one's even encountered. I'd find a new one. Yeah, you'd eat a berry and it's actually a perfectly edible berry. And that would be it for you. Did put you in your Sunday suit and down you'd go into the hole. But I know what you're saying. There's something very, I don't know, aspirational about it. There's something where I hear about it and I go, oh, that would be...

Do you think like you lose a lot of anxiety not having the internet and stuff just? Yes, that would be so. You guys are probably anxiety free except for labor and farm concerns, right? I mean, I think that things that sound aspirational and reality are always, they come with their difficulties too.

It definitely, it makes it life a little bit more simple, but we're still human. Yeah, there's still, there was plenty of anxiety out in olden times on a farm because what if there was a frost and what if your crop died? Or if it's in the afternoon. But that's legitimate, I mean,

I know what you mean, your trivial anxiety. Tribal anxiety, yeah, yeah. Like I, oh, I, you know, this video cut out before I saw the You're a trivial anxiety. Yeah, yeah. Oh, this video cut out before I saw the rest of that street fight. Yes. Thank you. Yes. And all of that.

Damn it. These two guys were wailing on each other and then damn it. I lost the connection. Those were things that old honest Abe wasn't worried about when he was chopping those logs. Wow. okay. I don't know how I would do in that environment, but I do think that being removed from all of these modern distractions would be somewhat helpful, but it's, it's funny to me because we also talk to another fan who lived out in like a storage container in New Zealand and he was in the middle of nowhere, but he was listening

to our podcast. And I do find it amusing that when, when someone's living, they don't have television, they don't have running toilets. Yeah. And, and they're like, well, time to check out these idiots babbling away in Los Angeles on their podcast. So that does amuse me. And...

Well, you guys have actually got me through some difficult times. My son was actually Gideon was in the NICU for a little while, and I used to listen to the podcast on the walk over so that I would arrive in a happy laughing mood. So I think that you guys get a big service to a lot of people. Well, thank you. How's he doing now?

He's wonderful. He's got two and a half and just the happiest little boy. Oh, that's great. That's a nice story. I'm glad we were able to be there for you, even though we weren't there for you. We didn't know you were there for you. That's a very social relationship. Yeah, sounds like we were responsible for. I appreciate it. Yeah, you should change his name to come in. Conan, Conan Gourley.

It might be his last name too. Yeah, who knows? Well, I don't know. You know, this, it sounds like you're, I'm very impressed. I'm very impressed with you and your husband and very excited for the next child to come along and you guys have a homestead. This is very cool.

That's nice. Yeah. Carol says here you have 22 acres. Is that right? Yeah, we do. Yeah, we have 22 acres and coming from California, I didn't realize that land came in that size. But there is, I mean, much larger farms in our, but ours, but it feels like a huge farm to me. It feels like endless, you know, possibility there. It's a really beautiful place.

Did you, I think you had a question for us, I believe. Is that right? Do you have a question? Yeah, I do. So, do you think that you could live without reliable daily internet or cell phone access? And if you could, what would you do to fill your time? I will say for myself, I definitely could, meaning I think I would be a happier person. I honestly think it would be great if I wasn't constantly texting or answering texts or getting emails.

And I think I would probably read more and I would journal and I don't know. I do think that there would, I don't think I would miss that. I think I'd have pangs or moments where I missed it, but we didn't live. I'm a lot, you know, I'm older than you guys and I didn't have internet for a big chunk of my life and never knew what, you know, I didn't have it. Didn't miss it when I didn't have it,

so I don't think I would miss it again. So I'd be happy if it was enforced and I didn't have it. What about you? Yeah, I wish it would be taken from me because for the job, for many other things, I have to have it. And I do take breaks a couple times a year, but I, it's miserable and I wish I was just... Also, what if, what if, I mean, I sometimes think what if I could become a master woodworker? Yeah.

Edward was giggling, but I mean, what if, what if, but then I think Nick Offerman's a master woodworker and he also goes on the internet. Right. So clearly that's not stopping me from being a master woodworker. Now I think there are no skills that are being, there's no skills that are being stopped by my, you know, having access to the internet. But I like to imagine that if you took away my internet, suddenly I'd be one of the great eye surgeons of all time.

That's what I would do. Can you take away our internet? I would love someone to take away my internet. I couldn't do this job. I'm. Welcome to come out here for a visit. Yeah, you know what? Do you have a place where Gurly and I could stay on these 22 acres? We do actually. So when we first came to West Virginia, we drove across the country looking for a home in our RV. So we still have a 30-foot RV that you're welcome to stay in. It's very cozy. Basically, it's almost like we're in an RV now when we're in this studio. So I think Gourley and I, yeah, that's something we should think about. Oh no, I'm a no.

Just, that's a hard pass. It's a hard pass for me. Okay. Thank you. I'm not the RV. You can talk to anyone and all the, yeah, well, at all the hashtag vanlife I see on the internet. And now I know that they're all lying. It is not as fun as it as it looks isabel you know what i'm gonna do i'm gonna show up and um i'm gonna have with me a drifter i met along the way who i cannot vouch for and we are going to live on your property and we're gonna look after your family you cool with that? if you help with the farm choreo. He's gonna have a far away stare. And anyway, you'll see, we're showing up. Eventually you'll go home, but he might stick around.

Yeah, I may leave to get back here to my family and my job, but Pete, he's gonna stay with you. It'll be a new friend. We don't know his last name. He doesn't. Yeah. He's got a twitch. Well, Isabelle, it was very nice talking to you. Best of luck with your second child and congratulations. And really cool. I think what you're doing is very impressive and you and your husband have a lot of character and fortitude to be doing that. I think what you're doing is very impressive. And you and your husband have a lot of character

and fortitude to be doing that. I think it's very cool. Thanks. Well, definitely is a lot of fun. All right, we'll keep listening to those podcasts. Even if it's snowing, if there's a storm, if you're risking your life to get to town for the next download, don't miss it, okay?

It's more important than feeding the children. Do you understand? I'll remember that. All right, you take care. Bye-bye. Thank you, Isabelle. Thank you so much. Have a good day. Conan O'Brien needs a friend with Conan O'Brien, Sonom of Sessian, and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Nick Liao, and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf.

Themesong by the White Stripes, incidental music by Jimmy Vivino, Take it Away Jimmy. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair and our Associate Talent Producer is Jennifer Samples, engineering by Eduardo Perez, additional production support by Mars Melnick, talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Britt Khan. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the team Coco Hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode.

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