You may be wondering what our mini-farm has to do with Timberdoodle. A lot, actually! Solid Rock Farm was completely funded by Timberdoodle through the paychecks of us 5 kids. In addition to putting money toward clothes, gifts, tithe, treats, savings and more, we also agreed to put a certain portion of each paycheck into a group account, designated for Solid Rock Farm. Solid Rock Farm was originally founded with the planting of fruit trees. But since our family has always enjoyed animals we attempted to raise many different critters through the years. We started with Haflinger horses, and expanded to include miniature donkeys, Babydoll Miniature Southdown sheep, a Golden Retriever, quail, chickens, ducks, a Border Collie, cattle, alpacas and more. How did it go? Let’s just say that “financially profitable” isn’t the first phrase to jump to mind!

Haflingers – The Black Hole Lesson
We started with Lily, who never was able to carry a foal to term for us. Purchased our foundational mare (Sirikit) from a riding school in BC, added Gela from an Amish farmer in Ohio along with another mare we had for only a short time. Birthed 8 foals here and imprinted all of them. Lots of lessons learned, from stallion selection to cleaning fields daily. The lesson that stands out the most, though, is what a financial black hole horses can be, even when you do everything right and get good foals! We still have two Haflinger mares and love them.

Miniature Donkeys – Disappointments & Patience
Bought 2 jennets from a reputable farm in California; we were going to raise them for fun and profit. Unfortunately both lost their foals due to the stressful journey and we never pursued that again. We learned not only about disappointments but also how to cope with animals that need lots of patience and persistence. We hope to get another donkey soon.

Ducks – Thieves May Break In And Steal
We loved having ducks around, but didn’t get to experience it for long. They didn’t coop up well for us, and that gave the raccoons a feast. We also had a night where the coyotes came and slaughtered most of our flock right outside our door – we never heard them. Most gruesome of all though, was the morning the garbage truck rolled over a duck that was waddling down the road and left a spectacle few of us will forget.

Sheep – We Like Sheep… Is Not A Compliment
When it comes to animals we have a knack for getting into the market just as the bottom drops out. Our first little flock of sheep perished due to lack of care on our part – our vet (at the time!) told us we didn’t need to deworm, and that eventually killed our two ewes. With better counsel, we tried again, and successfully raised some adorable lambs – ready for sale just as the breed reached a point where availability was good and prices dropped. Lessons learned: persistence, market share, guilt from bad advice (When we called to complain about the vet, she had already been dismissed.) and how dumb sheep can be!

Dogs – When To Quit
See this article for the first Golden Retriever story. Our second Golden Retriever was not qualified because of her hips/eyes. Hope’s Border Collie gave us a great litter of puppies, but the Border Collie didn’t do well as a mom, so we didn’t repeat the experience. Lessons learned included screening buyers, how to ship a puppy, and when to quit.

Quail – Beware Of Your Neighbors
OK, so maybe that’s not a good lesson. However, after raising quail from tiny chicks, releasing them and reveling in their every appearance around the house it was pretty devastating to drive up our driveway one day only to see our neighbors crossing the driveway with a stringer full of quail. Those friendly little birds had no chance!

Chickens – Do You Really Want To Know Where Your Eggs Come From?
It seemed so sweet, organic and a terrific outreach to raise our own eggs. However, not only did no one want to wash the eggs, but having once participated in the egg-gathering/washing process most were reluctant to eat our own eggs. Are we the only ones who would rather buy a super-clean egg than avail ourselves of the pleasure of growing our own eggs? We also learned about B vitamin deficiencies the hard way. Possibly the best parts of the whole experiment were building the chicken coop with Grandpa, and picking out chicken breeds every few years to rebuild the flock.

Cattle – Make Sure You Have Buyers Before You Purchase Steers To Share
Chubby and Tubby were Hope’s purchases and responsibility, and we loved having cattle around for the first time. However, when it came time to slaughter them, we could not find buyers for the meat. That is very unusual around here, as grass-fed beef often seems to be in demand. We have the knack for this though, and are still eating them 3 years later!

While we have pretty much given up on raising animals for profit here, we will probably always enjoy a menagerie of animals and will definitely never regret all the lessons we learned during our career as farmers!

About Today’s Giveaway
As we were growing up, we loved the Pathway Readers series written by and for the Amish community. The children were part of a farming community, and the readers reflected that with sweet stories about new foals, large families and everyday adventures.

Or read all about the giveaways here.

If you have been home teaching for any length of time, friends, relatives, and strangers have undoubtedly asked you, “how do you do it all?” Oftentimes, the implication is not only why would you do it all, but can you possibly do it all properly. What is “all”? When we get this question it is referring to housework, schoolwork, and our business.

If you are new to home education, let me share some ideas that have worked for us. In the area of housework, let me share my basic rule of thumb: if I am working and nobody else is, then I have either mismanaged my time or theirs. With Children 11, 10, 8, and 5, there seems to be no reason that I should be working while others are playing.

This month, for example, Joy, 11, is responsible for cleaning both bathrooms, and for setting and clearing the table after each meal. She also deals with the compost, a necessary but very disdainful job. This is an exceedingly easy list of chores for an 11-year-old, so we rotate jobs on a monthly basis. Joy looked forward to this month’s duties.

Hope, 10, is in charge of all the linoleum floors. This means that they are swept at least once a day and the kitchen and entry floors are also scrubbed once a day, usually in the afternoon while everyone else is at the warehouse. Hope is also responsible for maintaining the childrens’ bedrooms. This is often the dreaded job because the bedrooms in our mobile are exceedingly small and it does not take too much activity in them for them to look trashed. Abel’s bedroom right now is doing triple duty, not only as a bedroom, but also as a toy room and a pantry. Organization in there is critical, and will be more so when his room acquires yet another title this winter of nursery! Hope’s final job this month is garbage. In our small mobile, if this is not done on a daily basis, we really know it!

Grace, 8, has kitchen duty this month. Though a relatively simple assignment, it is probably the most time-consuming. It entails cleaning all the dishes, pots, and pans. It also involves cleaning the counters, sinks, and all appliances. She is also depended on to keep all our carpets vacuumed. This is the first time in our married life that we have so much carpeting, so we have made Grace’s job easier by instigating a “no shoes in the house” policy. Therefore, for the most part it is just lint that she is vacuuming and can be maintained with a once a week vacuuming.

Abel, 5, is in charge of laundry. Because of his age and size there are certain limitations, but he can do the bulk of the job. He sorts the laundry, loads the washer, unloads the dryer, and changes the dryer lint trap. Because his head barely reaches over the top of the washer, I empty the clean clothes into the dryer. I also add the soap because I am a little concerned about someone that small lifting something that caustic over his head. Abel also deals with all towels and foldable laundry. He sorts each person’s clothes and couriers them to their rooms. For Dan and myself, he puts away all our folded laundry, but for the girls he just deposits it into a bin in their room for them to sort. He sorts all clothes that need to be hung and he places them in the right room. Because he cannot reach the clothes rods and there is not enough room in our tight mobile for him to haul a chair from room to room, each person is responsible to hang their own hangables.

As you can see, the bulk of the housework is done by the children.The unassigned jobs, like window washing, car cleaning, gardening, and dusting, are distributed as “extra jobs” earned by bad attitudes to regular tasks, by dawdling, or by jobs sloppily done. I suppose it is to our shame that this happens enough that all extra jobs do get done in a timely way. I am in charge of meals, relying on homemade, pre-made meals stored in the freezer. I also undertake the fussier jobs like waxing the floors and removing stains, but for the most part, with regards to housework, I truly lead a life of leisure. So, how do I get housework done? I delegate!

A year ago this month was the first time we heard speaker Terry Small at a local homeschool conference. We were immediately enthralled with what he had to say and deeply amused with his style of delivery. Acutely engaging, Terry will not easily let you be an inactive spectator in his sessions but soon has you along with everyone else, laughing, encouraging, joking, antsy with anticipation, fluctuating from relaxed to on edge, perpetually interesting he keeps you engaged and learning. His topic: Your Brain.

We came home from that homeschool conference (WATCH) brimming with new information about our brains, many interesting facts and entertaining stories which Terry imparted to us during those 3 days.

Of course we could not help but want more information and were delighted to find that Terry regularly sends out a newsletter with more facts and information on the brain.

The latest Brain Bulletin we received from Terry Small (#54) included 6 unique facts about the brain and then this fascinating video clip about a man with a phenomenal memory. Incredible!!

If you like us are always interested in more information about our brains, how they function, how to improve your memory, and more, you may wish to also sign up for his informative Brain Bulletins. Enjoy!

This is informative clip, by Jenny Thompson from the Health Sciences Institute, warns about the great dangers of the vaccine Gardasil. Although this is most pertinent and alarming for those children who are enrolled in the school system, we homeschoolers should be aware of the possible legislation that young girls be required to receive this vaccine to continue to be allowed to attend school.

At the very least this information should make you grateful to be a homeschooler, even better would be if you took action to guard against this becoming a required vaccine in your state, and best would be if you and your homeschooling family reached out to these desperately lost young girls and their families who have absorbed the worldview that their’s and their children’s “happiness” is paramount, even if it involves immorality, to the destruction of their lives and in the end the realization that happiness is one thing they have not obtained.

Finally, if your family has relatives or friends enrolled in the school system, do them a favor and pass this information on to them. They may be completely unaware of the ramifications from this vaccine and this information could save them and their girls many complications.