At four my little BuckarooBaby can explain the process and purpose of photosynthesis and answer all your questions about afterbirth but he does not want to learn his ABC ..... yet. This week he enthusiastically joined us for a new lesson; ecosystems and lifecycles. It took two days. In 40 degree temperatures. That's 40 celcius. Oh, and did I mention that we were shovelling poo!?
Shoveling. Scooping. Carrying. More specifically, it was masses and masses of fish poo. Even my toddler was excited about the stinky black gunk that has stained our nails.
The last time we cleaned the dam was long before the children were a twinkle in FarmerBuckaroo's eyes. With the 7 year drought we spared every drop. The few tilapia that began life in our farm dam have become countless multitudes. With the blessing of returned rain over the last year it was time to empty the dam, clean it and fill it with fresh life giving water. First the thousands of little fish had to be saved, one for one.
It has been no small feit. And my children are equal to the task. So much so that at the end of the first day my scrubbed and pajamaed eldest crawled around in the sludge with me to rescue the last (hundred) fishies.
Tonight I read the wonderfully amusing (to me) GardenJournal Challenge that the inspiring @riverflows put out. She speaks of avid gardeners (and I'll add homesteaders) in colourful language - and truly we are an interesting people of the dirty nail club. Who else could get excited about poo? So in honour of dam crap and all those inspiring #gardenjournal entries, here's another unconventional contribution. Maybe for next month we can get unconventional from @generikat (now that you're no longer viral) and @craigcryptoking (yes, I'm nagging) and @blackberryskunk (who always inspires me with her amazingly colourful natural creations)?
Why am I in no rush for my children to learn their alphabet? Because in so many aspects they are leagues ahead of the average school going child. My children helped us save hundreds of fish and shovelled liquid poo for hours in the heat to feed the gardens. We have literally flooded the gardens with the best liquid gold!
Did we lose some fish? Yes. Sadly. Some. But that is the cycle and reality of life. Most continue to flourish and work on a new batch of black gold. Ultimately we were compromising our other livestock who are watered from the dam, by not cleaning it. It had to be cleaned. But faced with the reality of life and death my children have also learned that those that we lost also return to the earth.
By midday today we were finally finished. After a quick scrub of our fabulous facials we switched on the solar pump to the borehole. And watched the living water flood in.
To celebrate we dived into the chilly waters at sunset. It still smells a little fishy and isn't crystal clear, like a chlorinated city pool, but it is natural. It is also the perfect end to hard labour and a long hard drought. We are so proud of our little BuckarooBabies - they astound us by their understanding and compassion and enthusiasm. Now: Let the waters flow.
I bet the garden loved that sludge! There's that smell that is awful to us, but you can't help but think it's delicious when you think of the plants you know will adore it. 😆
How did you manage with all the fish? Just buckets while you cleaned? I love that such a big job got the whole family involved. ❤
Learning first hand more than the alphabet here @buckaroobaby life cycles, working with your hands and everything in between.
Nice photography of you all hard at work cleaning the dam poo out!
!LUV
@joanstewart(5/10) gave you LUV.
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Thank you Joan
Best way to learn is joining in with the work, for parents teaching by example!
Slushy mushy messy muck still great to get into after the dam is clean now for a swim.
I never worried about my kids learning by the book. To learn about life and living, working. appreciating and knowing the value of things, truths and consequences? Priceless, Tracey.
I found all that book learning came much easier along the way. There will be an opportunity to include it in a life lesson. You can't plan it, it usually presents itself. I made sure that the kids took the Achievement Tests that were given in Public Schools, mostly because at the time, homeschooling was not widely accepted for my first. By the way, he is premed at Wake Forest. Now I know I did the right thing.
As for the dam cleaning, brava! That is wonderful and I know how relieved you are for so many reasons to get that dam thing cleaned up. (No! Not a cuss, but, you knew that) The little tilapia will be giving new life to it and the livestock will thrive. You make life so fun. You dirty little homesteader. LOL I admire you and your family so much.
Much love, Buckaroos!
Thank you for your encouraging words Denise. I love speaking to homeschooling moms. Even retired ones ;) You were one of the forerunners. So thank you! And congratulations. You definitely did the right thing and I'm sure your brilliant "babies" will thank you. If not now down the line. I am not concerned that my children are learning at their own pace or differently to the prescribed manner. As you sun, life must be fun. Children should never lose the thrill of learning and discovering.
Happy day for you 🌸🌸
My worst mistake, in the beginning, was trying to ensure my kids were on par with the rest. I was so afraid my skills would be challenged.
When I met someone who showed me how silly that really was. Kids all learn differently. Some are more visual and others hands-on... In the end, they are scoring well as they learn from the books. :)
It really helps to have other homeschooling moms to talk to. Most of my friends homeschool - being an older mom I already watched them blazing the trail. So I am far more relaxed and was advised by everyone to just relax
I had no idea you had natural pool Tracey and with fish in it! I can see it is lots of work to clean it but is well worth it. Your boys are quite the workers. I know my grandsons would give you hand too if they were there, lol 💖
And girl. My baby is a girl. Natural pools are quite the experience. And we enjoy it at least twice a day now.
Oh I am sorry! What is her name?
This is an inspiration!
Having fish poop for the garden sounds amazing!
I'm still in winter rest with the garden, but will have to put the seeds into the soil soon. I still need to wait about a month to be sure that I can start planting outside without snow or low temperatures. I can't wait to start planting!
We're also in that in between stage. But for the opposite reason. I'm chomping at the bit to put seeds in the ground but it is still way too hot. Looking forward to your spring planting as we're looking forward to winter planting - plus cooler weather!
Thank you @plantpoweronhive!
Your kids are learning the value of hard work and getting such a diverse education the same time
Wonderful to see
Exactly! I'm so pleased that others see it that way too! I love that what could've been a terrible chore was tackled with such enthusiasm and consistency
Your building up in your children a great Mindset, I just can imagine or dread to imagine if I asked my grandkids to help with a chore like that LOL
Sadly, I think that is the mindset of most of the younger and upcoming generation. As older parents I feel it makes a difference in how we raise our children - we definitely don't sweat the small stuff and living on a homestead makes the world of difference.
The beauty of the entire experience is that we never asked the children to help, they volunteered!
Yes your right of course that's why it is so refreshing to read your post and see kids that have a mindset I did when growing up
I think your doing a great thing with the homestead life :)
Your kids are learning life at a very young age - that in itself is awesome as is the fact that they didn't balk at but instead jumped ‘into' the stinking poo. That bath at the end of it must have felt heavenly.
Hi @oceanbee! How have you been? Haven't "chatted" in a while. Busy little bees all round. Thanks for your comment. It has been wonderful to float in those cool and clean waters especially in our heat wave
I was watching a Korean zombie series on Netflix.. 🧟♂️🧟♂️🧟♂️ bear with me..and one of the themes was the valueing of education and extreme pressure to do well to get into university. To explore and counter this cultural belief that success comes from good grades, the fireman father tells his daughter that she shouldn't worry, and just be happy and healthy. Hilariously, she kept saying that she would study harder, and the more she said that, the more he said to be happy and healthy.
As the show went on and the zombies did their thing, you know, chewing faces and entrails, the kids had to rely on their wits, resourcefulness and sense of friendship and problem solving to survive. That was far more valuable than grades.
Great show.
Do I need to say more or is the analogy obvious?
Dead zombies would make great fertilizer!!!
🧟♂️🧟♂️🧟♂️🐟🐠🐟🌿🌿🌿🌿🌹🌹🌹
Any suggestions how to clean puke off a laptop? I just threw up all over your comment. The analogy nearly gave me nightmares except that I read it before breakfast. Couldn't you rather have watched a movie about chewing dirty finger nails rather? I think I'll keep my fish poo and you can test your .... gag ... z .....ooooooooooh ..... gag ..... gulp .... theory 🤢
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Very cool. I love to see how the community lives. Seeing your work with the fish pond. I'm very happy for your children's education. They will certainly be excellent adults and are already excellent people. Friendship, love, respect, unity. Very nice, I hope to do this with my son soon. I have 5 dogs and clean the poops every day haha, I know how this adventure is. A hug from Rio de Janeiro! I'm going to follow the stories!
Nice to "meet" you all the way from here in South Africa! I receive your kind words as a blessing - thank you. I agree with you about community. It is wonderful to share experiences especially across the cultures. Although I also have dog poop to scoop every day. May your son have as wonderful and exciting a childhood
Thank you for the blessings. I'm very happy with your words. have a great day! and nice to meet you too!
Super cute Buckaroobabies!!!
Almost everyone at the end will learn the alphabet, but who will have really experienced the cycles of life through plants and animals and the amazing nature? Plus a fish-smelling rewarding bath?
Thanks Fotini! At least it isn't just my mama mind that sees how amazing my kiddos are.
As far as learning the alphabet, I totally agree with you and have had to tell many well many friends and family that I can guarentee them my children will be able to read and write by the time they are adults! I hate that people feel life must be boxed. Tick the school box. Tick the food box. Tick the successful career box. Ridiculous. Unnatural
Nope, it's not just you :) Yours kids are just AMAZING!
I mean, I don't know many kids who would have done all this work voluntarily! Unless you had promised them some of your great sorbet in these frozen magic bowls you ONLY do! I am kidding :) It is more than obvious to me that when kids are raised in a natural environment and deeply understand what their true home is and are grateful for this, without the pressure of the boxes, then there is no doubt that they will be beautiful gems like yours!!! And their brains and hearts will have collected so much wisdom from such an early age that who cares about alphabet anymore!!!
Exactly! The key being natural! Boxes and prescribed learning is not natural. The fresh air and dirt also makes such a difference to their brilliant brains and flourishing bodies. I didn't promise sorbet. But now that you mention it ..... maybe I need to make another bowl to reward all of us
Oh yes, you have to :)
I just wish I was there, too!
Can't help but be a little envious as I write from 1ºC Mississauga, Ontario!
Would love to see you do a little experiment with that fish-guano: if you have a bed with several of the same plant, say tomatoes, it would be neat to top dress with the manure around several plants and leave several others as the controls. Then take a photo once a week for several weeks and observe if there is a marked difference in the growth/vigor of the fertilized plants.
That is actually quite a good idea. I have no doubt that the natural composting will cause the plants to explode on wonderful organic food but the experiment may be good as a comparison. Except that I really don't have the time for these type of experiments. I already get very little sleep as I am up early and work until early hours of the morning. But I will definitely file away your suggestion for the future
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It really feels good to have cleaned your dam after a while now, and it looks more refreshing indeed and it will be really nice for the fish when they get in, lol.
Your children are so lovable, they prefer to help out to have fun with their Dad, so lovely.
Hope you got something for them for helping out? Please do to encourage them do better next time.
Do better? They surpass most adults! Let alone children. How could they do better? I also disagree with you about giving them something as it teaches them wrong motivation. We did not ask for their help they volunteered. They are very enthusiastic about the diversity and life lessons. Plus the excitement of saving the fish and swimming in the clean water afterwards is a bigger reward they will tell you than any small bribery
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A really cool post! I don't think I knew about this structure on your place. That fertilizer must work like magic gold.
This dam structure has been invaluable for us in our climate and conditions. Such an incredible blessing @goldenoakfarm
Education isnt only about learning ABC, but it's also about impacting u forgettable knowledge. It's great to see that your kids are exposed to nature and love. Seeing your son scrub along was something of a wonderful sight, im sure he was all enthusiastic and happy to join the fun. It's the best sort of education, keep it up!..your fishes would have all the world in the world and a reason to go on living. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us..✅✅🔥❤️
Thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful comment @chincoculbert! It has been an amazing experience all round. And I love that, what could've been a terrible chore was an adventure with so many benefits to people and plants and fishies
The most important thing is to always have fun and that's what you did, turned a chore into something really fun, who wouldn't love to join in?..
Keep doing what you're doing @buckaroobaby , it's great that you're sharing happiness ❤️✅
It looks just like plain old fun!