Some of you probably think that 3 kids, 1 puppy, 2 barn cats, 4 horses, 11 goats, 50ish rabbits, 75ish chickens, and 12 turkeys is a little bit crazy. We would agree. It is a little bit crazy. But it’s fun! Unfortunately, we are absolutely nuts, so stay tuned for other possible announcements in the near future.
BTW- while having a farm can be stressful, is definitely a lot of work, and doesn’t really have a good profit margin, it’s fun. And we love it.
Have you looked around at the trees lately? Leaves are turning yellow. Leaves are already falling to the ground. It isn’t even September and the leaves have started falling. I think an early fall and a harsh winter are on the horizon. Get the wood split and stacked. Fill the barn with hay. It’s going to be cold!
I have spent the week at Camp Tadma with 4 Webelos (including Alex). Growing up, I spent 2 summers working on summer camp staff, and attended camp every year except one. Therefore, the idea of what to expect at camp what not new to me. I have also previously attended Camp Tadma as a Day Camp leader. The program at camp has definitely improved over years past. Even so, I Iearned things about myself as a parent and the society we live in.
1. Fitness is no longer important to society as a whole. I would estimate that only about 25% of the leaders at camp were physically fit. While most of the staff was in decent condition, the overweight staff were obese, not just overweight.
2. The rules don’t apply to everyone. It is disappointing to see how many leaders are willing to allow their group to do things directly contrary to camp policies. For example, pocket knives are prohibited in camp for all scouts some groups not only allowed knives, they permitted knife usage in ways against BSA policies.
3. The foundation of scouting principles is lost on many parents. For example, the 9-10 year olds that came to camp with 12 sodas for the week. The parents that came to camp 3 times to visit their kids and refill the candy and snack supplies. The scouts that brought suitcases of toys.
4. A surprising number of problem scouts have involved parents. The behavior problems, such as tantrums, are overly tolerated by other leaders because the scout’s parent is present.
5. “Tough Love” builds more responsible kids. The scouts that are obviously held accountable at home are overall better behaved and more respectful. While this seems pretty obvious, it is reaffirmation of what I believe to be correct.
I know Alex enjoys scouting, and I know the things I teach him and other scouts I learned from my own scouting experience. However, I frequently find myself wondering if I am spending too much time parenting others instead of focusing on my own family.
We live on a country road and have offered eggs for sale at the end of the driveway for about a year and a half. In May, we had our cooler stolen. We keep a smaller soft side cooler inside a big hard cooler. They left the soft cooler and eggs, but took the money.
Last night, we had the soft cooler with 3 doz eggs taken – this time the replacement hard cooler was left.
On many other occasions, we have had money or eggs disappear. It hasn’t been a big deal, but when we have to keep replacing coolers, there is no point in selling eggs.
It’s disappointing that you can’t even sell eggs without stuff getting stolen. We will now have to move the cooler next to the house or stop selling entirely.
A little bit of enlightening truth from my first class (Critical Thinking) towards my Equine Sciences degree:
In 1906, William Graham Sumner published a land-breaking study of the foundations of sociology and anthropology, Folkways, in which he documented the tendency of the human mind to think sociocentrically and the parallel tendency for schools to serve the (uncritical) function of social indoctrination :
“Schools make persons all on one pattern, orthodoxy. School education, unless it is
regulated by the best knowledge and good sense, will produce men and women who
are all of one pattern, as if turned in a lathe…An orthodoxy is produced in regard to all
the great doctrines of life. It consists of the most worn and commonplace opinions which
are common in the masses. The popular opinions always contain broad fallacies, halftruths,
and glib generalizations (p. 630).”