Training session

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he shall not depart from it.

It’s working! All our persistence is beginning to produce results. One year, or even six months ago, today would have been a stressful, grumpy day for our family. But instead, despite spending the whole day doing hard physical work and running numerous errands for the farm, the kids were spectacular.

We had a great time. We got a ton done! Our pigs now have loads of wholesome, local organic food in storage. Our yard is stacked with wood for next year’s fuel. Our muscles are tired from a good day’s work, and our minds are filled with memories of time together.

When we went to pick up the brain, berries, and grains for our animal feed from the wonderful people at Farmer Ground, the farmer there had a child with him too. She was only a toddler but already he was showing her around, talking her through what he was doing, and spending quality time with her. I also noticed on their equipment wall hung a baby carrier. Isn’t in wonderful to see so many people who believe in training the next generation in the way they should go?

I’m so proud of our boys. They are learning that work can be fun. They enjoy spending time with their family. Today they found fulfillment in working hard together as a family, to contribute to all our needs.

When we plant and raise wholesome food as a family, we are sowing the seeds for the next generation. These boys aren’t just children, they are future leaders and husbands and fathers. And they will be some of the very best!

Loading the bran into barrels to be stored: we hauled and shoveled and moved and stored about 900 lbs of food in all today. Sourcing our own feeds means we know what our animals are eating; who is growing what and where. It also allows us to control our expenses, and get the freshest and most wholesome ingredients for the best value.

Several trees were chopped down at our local church building ,and the facilities manager kindly offered them to us if we were prepared to load and move them. They have been stacked to age at the farm for next year’s fuel. We are trying to be as close to 100% wood heated as possible this year. Our home is on one level and small enough to allow us to heat pretty efficiently and affordably this way.

Our 5 and 7 year old superheroes! They worked so hard moving all the wood, without any complaints. Not once did they ask when we would be done or what it was for, because they already understood the contribution they were making to our family. They were even responsible enough to go around to the side of the truck to fill in the gaps with the logs they had, rather than dumping them on the tailgate to finish their job more conveniently. I am sure not every day will be like this – it certainly hasn’t been in getting them to this point – but it is wonderful to see them beginning to understand how valuable a contribution they make to our family.