We gotta believe that “Heartlandia” host Gunner Scott didn’t know what he was getting himself into when he stepped onto Farmer Derek’s Kansas farm.
Derek Klingenberg is the goofy, outgoing, and extremely likable YouTube sensation behind “Bumble Bees in the Hay,” “Ranching Awesome,” “What Does the Farmer Say?,” and several other songs and parodies.
“I’m trying to catch up to all the imaginations, all the dreams, that I had growing up,” Derek told Gunner during the episode.
It’s no surprise that Gunner was going to get dirty and have to do some work around Derek’s cattle-and-crop operation. The twist however was when the work ended and the fun began. The pair raced to the top of “the only mountain in Kansas,” took the ATVs for a spin, and — for the centerpiece of the episode — took part in an obstacle course.
Gunner got a chance to see what Derek’s family has long known: “I’ve always been kind of weird my whole life, so they have learned to adjust to that,” Derek said.
AGDAILY: Have you been having a busy day around your farm so far.
DEREK: Oh yeah, I never know what I’m going to be doing. I have to take it all minute by minute.
AGDAILY: I’ve already seen this episode of “Heartlandia,” and you really channeled the fun and interesting side of yourself into it. How did you come up with the idea for the obstacle course?
DEREK: I just thought that if someone’s coming over, I ought to try to have them experience the farm in a fun way. I figured it would be fun to break out some of my YouTube characters.
AGDAILY: How did Gunner react to all of the obstacles?
DEREK: I could tell he had a good background with farming. He enjoyed it a lot.
AGDAILY: What obstacle was the most fun for you to come up with?
DEREK: I though that the bumblebees in the hay, with them chasing him, that was humorous. However, when one of my daughters nailed him in the head with a water balloon, that was probably the best part.
AGDAILY: I’m glad that Gunner had fun with that then.
DEREK: He was great! He didn’t just go for the prize on that obstacle, he went up there and started stealing their water balloons and going after them, too.
AGDAILY: Touching into your background with the parody videos, tell me a little about how you came up with your first one.
DEREK: Originally we had a bluegrass group called the Possum Boys — it was me and my two brothers. We added two other folks. I started writing fun farm songs for the group, and then we disbanded because two of them went to seminary, including my brother. I was a little upset, so I bought a video camera and started making music videos of the songs I had written. The most popular was “Bumble Bees in the Hay.” After that, businesses called me up and asked me to do video work for them. … Later on, though, I decided to quit and focus solely on YouTube.
