Young Entrepreneurs

The rain, 

pouring down day after day this whole week has proved amazing results: 

 it looks like spring! 

 The snow is nearly gone, the creek alongside the cabin is a swollen, rushing torrent, 

and low and behold - we even had blue sky today! 

(the first in weeks)

 Such a marvel!

We have all been busy with our work. 

 Brian has a new young men''s Bible study on Tuesdays. 

Today they are going to hear a speaker tell them about the Patriot Academy.  

Apparently, there is one in every state, 

teaching young people about legislation and helping them to get a start at the state level.  

Very interesting.

I am doing our spring cleaning. 

 Well, actually the children are doing most of it,  I am mostly administrating.  

This is in preparation for the School of Honor we are hosting later this week. 

 We are expecting 21 young men here for three days of intensive training. 

 Watch the You tube, it is goose bump raising.

Rose is doing her best to get two orphaned baby goats to live, 

although one is giving her a run for her money, poor little thing. 

 The mama collapsed last Wednesday, (we do not know why), 

and thus we have had the two week old babies in the house, bottle feeding and keeping them warm. 

They have now moved back to the barn with the other doe and her two babies. 

 Rose is feeding bottles three times a day, and the littlest one has still not taken to it, 

so it is a time consuming process requiring much patience and persistence.

And the Little Woodsmen, (when not kept cleaning), 

have their own work to do. 

Brian and I believe in training the children up to have creative, innovative ideas 

that will get their hands wet in entrepreneurial industry. 

 Joe, Jim and Ben 

have taken our nudging and are now in business making cedar kindling bundles to sell. 

 Just down the county road is a cedar shake mill.  

All the leftovers come out of the mill forming mountains

 of 1 to 4 inch wide cedar sticks about 16 inches long.  

One of us will drive the truck down there, 

the boys will fill the truck up, 

 we bring it home,

 they unload it, 

then Joe cuts the cedar into even lengths with the chop saw.

Jim and Ben wrap the bundles which are then ready to sell.  

They use my small soup pot to measure the bundles.

There is very little cost involved.  

They work together and share the profits equally.  

This they do one or two days a week. 

 The more they sell, the more they are motivated to put more time into it and have more product to sell. 

 Bethany and Gabe (they are 5 and 7) see what a great thing it is to have your own business, 

and are begging me to help them come up with an idea.  

(smile)

For more inspiration on young entrepreneurs,

listen to Kevin Swanson's radio broadcast  

about a 6 yr old who wants to buy a backhoe, 

it is a great story!

 Blessings to you and yours this week!  I will be back after the School of Honor.

Julianne

Searching For Owls

The baby goats were born a week ago.  

Our two does each produced healthy twins, and all are doing well. 

 Now to keep them safe from predators!

 Living out in the woods, we have a variety of threats. 

 Last year we lost two kids to the coyotes, who lured off the dogs in one direction 

and came in and took two babies in the goat pen.  

This year, we are hearing the low steady 

whoot whoot whoot 

of an owl close by the the towering pine trees next to the goat barn.  

This has the boys all astir.  

What kind of owl is it?  

We have several varieties that habitate here, such as..

The Great Grey Owl:

The Great Horned Owl:

The common Barn Owl:

Today, the boys have the animal encyclopedia out 

studying the habits, calls, and physical features of various large owls. 

This we have made our Nature Journal topic of the week.  

Drawings, labeling, and short reports of various types of owls prepare them 

for the finding of the local silent flyer who could easily pack off a newborn goat kid.

As soon as lunch was over, they are off to the woods for up to three hours of free time.

(After "gearing up" for 20 minutes, that is)

Not really knowing how long they will be out and about, 

what they will encounter, 

and what adventures they will have, 

they are ready for, um...pretty much anything. 

 Hatchets, sheath knives, fire starting kits, possibles bags that contain first aid kits, paracord, flashlight,

and who knows what..food probably, and more knives. 

Waterproof  BOGS are a must in this weather. 

Long underwear, wool shirts over the layers, and hats top off these little woodsmen's outfits.

And, they are off!

I followed them for a bit, telling them to just ignore me while I snapped some pictures.

 

I started back to the lodge to prepare for afternoon tea, 

knowing that they will likely return in a few hours hungry 

and ready to tell of their adventures over a hot cup of tea.

No owl found yet, 

but they did have a great time.

Just another day in the life of our little woodsmen.

UPDATE:
Jim and Ben went outside tonight to try to hear the owl hooting.
 They did hear it, and called back to it.
The owl answered, and they went on "talking" to it until they located it.
 They were so excited!
They came in chattering all about it , but not knowing which owl type it is.
So, I  helped them look up on You Tube various owl calls until we found a match.
 No surprise, it is a great horned owl.
Now they want an owl for a pet.

Raising Little Woodsmen

The children in our family have grown up playing in the woods.

They have spent hours building tree forts, tearing them down and building new ones. 

 They have bounded through the trees and out of sight to play since they could toddle. 

 They are very comfortable in the woods, and we think nothing of it.  

...until someone says something out of astonishment at what the children are up to.   

  Come free time in the afternoon, they head off down the trail and out of sight.  

After a while a thin column of smoke is seen rising out in the woods

 and I know the general whereabouts of our little woodsmen. 

They have built a fire near where they are playing to keep them warm.  

They probably have a mess kit by which they are sipping some hot broth or tea.  

The play scenario is likely that they are stranded, someone is wounded and needs to be cared for, 

a litter made, an emergency shelter built, and the patient tended to.

Daddy has seen to it that they know all the woodsmen basics:

                                        how to build a fire with matches or flint and steel

                                        how to make a lean to shelter

                                        how to shoot a bow

                                        how to shoot a gun

                                        how to use a pocket knife correctly

                                        how to tell what direction is north

                                        how to cook over an open fire 

                                        how to skin  and gut an animal

                                        how to find edible plants

                                        how to use a compass
                                        how to use cover and concealment

....and the list is ever growing.  

Here is Ben (9) and Jim (12) getting their fire going with flint and steel.

Besides being a good use of their time, these skill sets teach the boys responsibility,

 and give them that sense of manliness that makes them walk a little taller.  

Recently, they came in from their outdoor time and were not hungry for tea. 

"No thanks, mom, we got hungry out there, so we dug up some cattail roots and cooked them. 

 They were pretty good too." 

At least it was not an unfortunate squirrel or bird this time.

We want our boys to be capable and skilled indoors and outdoors, 

creating a good balance that will serve them for their entire lifetime.

They have practiced making fires for hours and hours, and are now accomplished.
This is a simple thing to do in the yard, with a rock or piece of wood for a base
if you don't want them burning the grass.
 The have to come up with a good natural tinder ball,
such as an old birds nest, a bunch of dried grass, small twigs, or the like
and get it going well enough to add the next layer of twigs and sticks.
 Once they can do this with matches
(no more than 3) then later with only 1,
they work at the fire making with the flint and steel.
The age we begin them learning this skill is about 6 years old.

Blessings to you this day, and to training up your little woodsmen,

Julianne

Of Colds and Lego Genius

While it is fairly blizzarding outside,
 we are fevering inside.

Tis the season to share the flu and colds with one another, 

as we have done thoroughly this week.  

First one, then to another, and so on, until the whole house is ringing

 in a symphony of 7 people coughing non stop.

This week has been full of reading and napping amid a pile of pillows and stacks of blankets, 

of continually sipping tea to soothe the throat, 

and the less romantic: teaching little ones to blow their nose, 

a humorous and inefficient process, to say the least.

When feeling pathetic, everyone wants to be held and snuggled, 

which means our days have looked like this:

Mama and the littles have been the last to fall to this undesirable virus, 

which means that the older boys, who became ill first, are beginning to feel better. 

 They have been busy in their room doing what they do best:  

creating  lego  structures, vehicles, 

and all sorts of science fiction-ish things imaginable.  

Their talent at building lego anything is nothing short of amazing.  

I can build, like, 

a box.  

What they bring down to show the blurry eyed sniffling mama on the couch just must be shared, 

and since some special folks have specifically asked, 

here they are:

A castle ruins

An original helicopter

and,
A speeder or two

I do hope that is inspiration for some little boys out there,

 and that ya all stay well away from this here bug.

Blessings,

Julianne