The best education does not happen at a desk, but rather engaged in everyday living- hands on, exploring, in active relationship with life.

Vince Gowmon

I grew up a “free range” child. We played outside from dawn until dusk, we had bikes, horses, cows, and dogs to play with all day long, and typically only the Pacific Northwest rain would drive us back inside for the day. My husband and I are trying our hardest to raise our girls the same way, and I have been thinking a lot lately about what they are learning and filing away for adulthood, simply by growing up wild and free.

Entertainment is Your Task

I love playing with my kids. I don’t have time to sit and play with them all day, and guess what? That’s ok! I don’t force them to help me with homestead chores, although our oldest usually chooses to help on her own (Hazel is only 1 so she tags along because she has to). While I don’t force them to help, I do have to do the chores around here. Animals need fed and cared for, the garden needs watered and harvested, laundry, etc. I can’t neglect all of it to play for hours on end, and I have given myself permission to be ok with that. There are many lessons to be learned by being bored, and I have seen first hand the amount of fun that comes from boredom. Games are created, art is produced, new songs are sung, and so much more. I have long been a fan of letting my girls find their own entertainment… I even have an entire post on that subject alone, and someone would have to present a ton of statistics to change my mind.

Girls Are Just As Capable

I’m a girl mom. I was terrified to become a girl mom, but here I am with a houseful of little ladies. I grew up in a man’s world, honestly. My dad was a horse shoer and my grandpa, dad, and uncles had a horse business. I spent so much of my childhood at either rodeos or horse sales, and surrounded by men. Men who rarely thought I was as capable of doing things as well my brother was. I refuse to let my daughters think that way of themselves. Others may try to treat them that way, however my daughters are learning skills around here that will prove them to be just as tough as the boys. Ada helps feed horses, drives the side by side, cleans stalls, and also helps me in the kitchen with baking and getting dinner done. She cleans and folds laundry too. She will also know how to change a tire and work on her own car, thanks to her dad! Well rounded, capable ladies will be what the Huskisson Homestead produces… with a little sass for good measure.

Hard Work is Good for the Soul

I have had a job since I was 15. Hard, physical labor jobs, as well as office jobs. I have been at the bottom of the pecking order and I have been in a management position. What did I learn? Hard work wasn’t taught to everyone. There are so many debates right now about work/life balance and I really don’t want to engage in any of them because I have my thoughts, and I tend to think along the lines of older generations, but these girls that we are raising know how to work. I am proud of the fact that they will know how to be punctual and work hard for what they want. Why do farm kids know how to work? Because if nobody on a farm will work, a farm doesn’t work. Animals don’t care if you are tired, they still want to eat.

One wonderful by-product of hard work is pride. There is something so satisfying about putting your time and energy into a project and having it come to fruition. I want our girls to see something from start to finish and be able to say “I helped do that”.

Compassion

I absoletely love seeing the girls marvel over a butterfly or a calf. To see how soft and sweet they are around our hens and watching them talk to our dogs if they are scared like they were over the 4th of July. My heart swells with pure joy seeing them soak in the beauty of nature that is all around them. The compassion they have is something I hope they will always carry with them and I hope it spreads out to the humans around them always.

Loss is Inevitable

Death is a hard lesson that I wish I never had to teach the girls. Unfortunately it’s something that they will see time and time again. We recently lost one of our hens, and it was entirely my fault. It was so sad. Thankfully she appeared to have passed peacefully, and didn’t seem to suffer. I was honest with Ada about it because I just don’t think it’s ok to lie to her about it. I didn’t go into details, and she didn’t see the chicken, but she knows that she passed away. We’ve had similar conversations when she wants to know what her cheeseburger is made out of or how I got the bacon we eat for breakfast. I am honest. If she decides to be vegetarian for the day, I am ok with that as well. It’s important to me that they know where their food comes from, and they know that it’s ok to be sad about losing something we love. Eventually, the appreciation that comes for our animals is something I hope they hold in their hearts.

So, in a nutshell, life’s lessons are everywhere if you look for them. The homestead does tend to do a lot of teaching, however, and it does so just by simply being.

~Tara