Rebecca is a homesteader, homemaker, and homeschool mama of 2 precious little girls and wife to her husband. 8 months ago they sold our homestead property in pursuit of a different property with more opportunity for development.
Not only are they building a home, but barns, chicken coops, gardens, and a greenhouse. The list could go on…
As homesteaders there are many instances when we are creating things that hold a certain level
of risk, or even where we need to keep our concentration on the task at hand. When I first started
doing more around my home, I was quick to become overwhelmed by the inevitable
interruptions that occur when you have small children. I would feel like I had to find someone to
watch my girls so I could accomplish the important task at hand. Reality is sending my girls
away was not benefitting our family. My girls were missing out on key moments of learning, and
I was never learning how to adapt to my current circumstances (having small children
underfoot).
So how do we still do these tasks while also creating space for our children to join
us?
Teach Safety Rules
As soon as our babies learn to crawl, we are teaching them safety rules around our home. If I am going to be making soap and pouring lye, I do not want to have a toddler on the floor underneath me with the potential of a drop spilling on them. It takes practice but we have gotten to the point where all the children no matter the age know that when I say, “Back up” Or “go stand in the other room to watch” it is done right away. Safety must come first, and the understanding that when a parent says something it is for your protection.
Plan Ahead
Planning is key. What task will I be doing? What are the steps, and in which steps can the girls
help? When making soap they can help pour it into molds, choose the colours or scents etc.
When making cheese they can help stir the pot or help put the curds into the cheese press.
When we are cutting and packaging meat they can pass certain portions, or even use their little knife to trim the fat.
No matter the task there was always certain steps that we can slow down enough to allow our
children to become involved.
Discuss
Before we are going to begin a task, whether an outside chore or within our kitchen our girls and
I will discuss the recipe, where they can expect to help, and any dangers there may be.
Moral of The Story
Moral of the story, we don’t want our children to miss out on feeling useful within our home or
learning essential skills that they may sometimes do on their own just because I am too nervous
about an accident, or to impatient to slow down enough to allow them to give certain things a try.
Slow down enough throughout your day that little ones can learn alongside you. I love that I am
now seeing so many fruits from intentionally slowing down enough to teach our children the
importance of being helpful around our home.
Please join us by sharing, continuing the conversation below, and connecting with Rebecca at the following:
What a high calling to teach, train, and raise our children. Yet all around us the world is screaming of how little worth motherhood holds. It is truly a detriment to the family how the world would belittle the work of a mother…
When they are young and excited about everything you are doing…. include them. This is the actual challenge. Because it’s way easier and more efficient to milk animals alone, to make dinner alone, to plant 400 onion plants alone. But really the only way to get through this time is to learn how to include them.
Raising your own meat can seem very intimidating. There are major learning curves, and you are dealing with living, breathing things that have to be taken care of every single day. But let me tell you… It is beyond worth the fears, and you won’t regret it one bit! I would always tell anyone who wants to raise their own meat to start with smaller animals – pastured poultry is a great place to start!
There will be times when you cannot have a family milk cow, or plant that last succession of lettuce. There will be times when the plants go to seed, and you don’t reap the harvest you planned. I think the goal with anything you love should be, as cliche as it sounds: never stop dreaming, never stop learning, and never stop growing.
My introduction into farming has been more of a crash course. After 13 years in the military, our family decided to go into farming full time. My husband served in USASOC – special operations. If you’ve ever seen a military themed movie, these are the guys who go on super secret missions, jump out of planes, bust down doors, taking down names and the bad guys. You know, the cool job. Well for him… But not so cool for our family.
Homesteading can be lonely. You can feel like the only people in the world who want to know where your food comes from. You want friends and it would be even better if those friends have kids because then your kids can not feel lonely either. It was easier when the kids were younger because they didn’t know what they were missing out on.
Being a mom and a homesteader means you have to have a lot patience and forgiveness. I’ve learned that just a little bit of guidance makes all the difference. Children are so willing and eager to help and learn. Giving them a simple task to accomplish will allow them to have fun, feel included and build their confidence.
It’s messy, it’s fun, and it’s a real childhood. On days when I’m a less than perfect mother, I try to remind myself that, at least in general, my little girl is living the way kids should live.
I truly believe that homesteading isn’t about the size of your property or the amount of food you produce, it’s a lifestyle of intentionality. It’s learning new (old) skills, making do with what you have, and sometimes creating something out of almost nothing just like our great grandparents did.
