Re: [unschoolingbasics] Living in a Farm WASCleaning and Respect
BRIAN POLIKOWSKY
We live in a Dairy Farm. My dh was born on this farm ( we purchased since them) and he has always loved cows.
I was a big city girls but I love animals and farm life.
My kids are young. DS is 5 yo and dd is 22 months. She absolutely loves the cows and anything farm related.
My ds does not. He does not dislike but does not really care. But he has helped on and off too.
My dd has been helping with chores since just a little over a year until it got too cold for her to be out ( we are in MN).
She loves it. She could spend all day feeding cows.
Their help actually males chores go slower than normal at this point.
I used to help dh and I love it but since I had ds it has been too hard to help and I rarely do.
Our decision to unschool has nothing to do with us being on a farm and more to do with what is best to our kids.
Yes kids have seen animals being born and animals die. They see dad work a lot and everyday.
If you have any more questions please ask.
Alex
----- Original Message ----
From: Robert Saxon <TheSaxons@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 12:18:35 PM
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Cleaning and Respect
y'all) online, so I have no idea what anyone else does. Who here lives on a
farm, a working farm? Dairy? Crops? Something else? Your very livelihood
depends on growing/raising stuff and selling it. How has unschooling AND
living on a farm worked out? How do you implement the philosophy of RU into
everyday parenting? I would love more nitty-gritty on this.
--Rob
DH to Seana for (almost) 11 years!
"Daddy!" to Genevieve (now 6!) and Elissa (4 and seven-twelfths, and not a
twelfth less!)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I was a big city girls but I love animals and farm life.
My kids are young. DS is 5 yo and dd is 22 months. She absolutely loves the cows and anything farm related.
My ds does not. He does not dislike but does not really care. But he has helped on and off too.
My dd has been helping with chores since just a little over a year until it got too cold for her to be out ( we are in MN).
She loves it. She could spend all day feeding cows.
Their help actually males chores go slower than normal at this point.
I used to help dh and I love it but since I had ds it has been too hard to help and I rarely do.
Our decision to unschool has nothing to do with us being on a farm and more to do with what is best to our kids.
Yes kids have seen animals being born and animals die. They see dad work a lot and everyday.
If you have any more questions please ask.
Alex
----- Original Message ----
From: Robert Saxon <TheSaxons@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 12:18:35 PM
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Cleaning and Respect
> My husbandsThis brings up a question in my mind. I've only met y'all (well, most of
> question "What if we lived on the farm and we needed them to help with
> the chores in the morning?" (my kids would love this!)
y'all) online, so I have no idea what anyone else does. Who here lives on a
farm, a working farm? Dairy? Crops? Something else? Your very livelihood
depends on growing/raising stuff and selling it. How has unschooling AND
living on a farm worked out? How do you implement the philosophy of RU into
everyday parenting? I would love more nitty-gritty on this.
--Rob
DH to Seana for (almost) 11 years!
"Daddy!" to Genevieve (now 6!) and Elissa (4 and seven-twelfths, and not a
twelfth less!)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Robert Saxon
> If you have any more questions please ask.OK, I'll ask. How busy is it? How much stuff is there to do? Is it really
do-able to practice the "let them help if they want to but don't worry about
it otherwise" on a farm? My city-bred mind believes that farms are so busy
that it may not be realistic to "allow" this. So, either (a) How do you
manage despite all the work, or (b) are farms not really as busy as I
think? (or (c) I could just be really poor at organizing chores.)
--Rob Saxon
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Debra Rossing
Something else that might be getting missed in this is that as the
adults, we *choose* where to live (whether it's a brownstone in
Manhattan or a farm in Ottumwa, Iowa - that's for all you MASH fans out
there). If we choose to live on a farm, we need to recognize that *we*
the adults are going to be doing a LOT of work (if it's to be a working,
primary income maker farm). Kind of the same thinking goes into getting
a pet - sure, the kids may WANT a dog, but before saying Yes, the
*adults* need to understand and recognize that that dog will be around
for many years, possibly even long after the kids have moved away, and
be willing to say "Yes, we adults will be responsible for this living
creatures's care and well-being. Any help from the kids is a bonus."
Interestingly, what I've seen with my DS (who is 9 1/2 and was 5 when we
got our dog) is that by us shouldering the responsibility for the dog's
care, he's picked up taking care of some of the tasks *without* it being
a burden to him. We have no *expectation* that he'll do it, but he does
often handle feeding the dog in the evenings, as well as feeding the
fish (two tropical tanks) in the morning if he's up before I feed them.
Sometimes, now, we'll ask him to handle one of those tasks if we truly
need the assist (like if I'm coming in from work with a pile of mail, my
purse, my lunch bag, and a sack of groceries I picked up to round out
dinner - I just don't have a convenient hand to -also- feed the dog).
And, he does it without a gripe because he knows that when we
specifically ask, there's a real reason for asking for the help, not
just "he has to learn responsibility so we'll give him this chore". Am I
making any sense? It's still early and I haven't even had a cuppa yet.
Deb
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
adults, we *choose* where to live (whether it's a brownstone in
Manhattan or a farm in Ottumwa, Iowa - that's for all you MASH fans out
there). If we choose to live on a farm, we need to recognize that *we*
the adults are going to be doing a LOT of work (if it's to be a working,
primary income maker farm). Kind of the same thinking goes into getting
a pet - sure, the kids may WANT a dog, but before saying Yes, the
*adults* need to understand and recognize that that dog will be around
for many years, possibly even long after the kids have moved away, and
be willing to say "Yes, we adults will be responsible for this living
creatures's care and well-being. Any help from the kids is a bonus."
Interestingly, what I've seen with my DS (who is 9 1/2 and was 5 when we
got our dog) is that by us shouldering the responsibility for the dog's
care, he's picked up taking care of some of the tasks *without* it being
a burden to him. We have no *expectation* that he'll do it, but he does
often handle feeding the dog in the evenings, as well as feeding the
fish (two tropical tanks) in the morning if he's up before I feed them.
Sometimes, now, we'll ask him to handle one of those tasks if we truly
need the assist (like if I'm coming in from work with a pile of mail, my
purse, my lunch bag, and a sack of groceries I picked up to round out
dinner - I just don't have a convenient hand to -also- feed the dog).
And, he does it without a gripe because he knows that when we
specifically ask, there's a real reason for asking for the help, not
just "he has to learn responsibility so we'll give him this chore". Am I
making any sense? It's still early and I haven't even had a cuppa yet.
Deb
**********************************************************************
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify
the system manager.
This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by
MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.
CNC Software, Inc.
www.mastercam.com
**********************************************************************
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
BRIAN POLIKOWSKY
Keeping in mind we are Dairy Farmers ( Crops and beef may not be so busy - you can only plant from May and harvest until end of October - maybe November here).
A day in my dh's life.
Yesterday.
He got up at 4:00 to do chores. Milking, feeding, feeding calves, medications, breading animals, AI, vet check, vaccines until about 100:00 or 11:00 AM .
By that time he had 2 other guys here because they are shaving cows udders and legs to keep them clean and dry. That makes the somatic cells count drop ( cleaner and healthier milk). They got done with about with about 60 cows ( about 40 the day before) at about 5:00. By that time my BIL ( dh and BIL are partners) and our help were already milking ( you got to milk 2 times a day-365). So DH had to feed calves, heifers, dry cows, clean pens (show animals, maternity,etc). He got in at exactly 9:00 PM as usual. He went to bed at 10:30. Kids want to play with him since yesterday they had not see him but for a few minutes when I went to say hi. At 1:30 AM he got up to check a cow that is ready to have a baby. I don't know if she did but DH then gets up at about 4:00 /4:30 to start another day.
Some days he does take 2 or 3 hours during the day to like go have Thanksgivings lunch with family or run and do errands ( he likes grocery shopping). He also runs and bikes when he can.
HE is always running behind. There are always 500 things to do on top of everything and he cannot get to them.
He does the cows and his brother does the planting ( we run about 250 acres). They both milk and feed twice a day everyday.
It is very hard to get away and dh does not like to be away from his cows ( we got many very expensive show cows) and we do a lot of genetic work.
We milk about 90-100 cows and have about 200-250 animals total ( calves, bulls, dry cows, heifers of all ages)
Our kids are 5 and almost 2. We do not and will not count on them to help. They will help if they want to.
Alex
----- Original Message ----
From: Robert Saxon <TheSaxons@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 11:25:16 PM
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Living in a Farm WASCleaning and Respect
do-able to practice the "let them help if they want to but don't worry about
it otherwise" on a farm? My city-bred mind believes that farms are so busy
that it may not be realistic to "allow" this. So, either (a) How do you
manage despite all the work, or (b) are farms not really as busy as I
think? (or (c) I could just be really poor at organizing chores.)
--Rob Saxon
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
A day in my dh's life.
Yesterday.
He got up at 4:00 to do chores. Milking, feeding, feeding calves, medications, breading animals, AI, vet check, vaccines until about 100:00 or 11:00 AM .
By that time he had 2 other guys here because they are shaving cows udders and legs to keep them clean and dry. That makes the somatic cells count drop ( cleaner and healthier milk). They got done with about with about 60 cows ( about 40 the day before) at about 5:00. By that time my BIL ( dh and BIL are partners) and our help were already milking ( you got to milk 2 times a day-365). So DH had to feed calves, heifers, dry cows, clean pens (show animals, maternity,etc). He got in at exactly 9:00 PM as usual. He went to bed at 10:30. Kids want to play with him since yesterday they had not see him but for a few minutes when I went to say hi. At 1:30 AM he got up to check a cow that is ready to have a baby. I don't know if she did but DH then gets up at about 4:00 /4:30 to start another day.
Some days he does take 2 or 3 hours during the day to like go have Thanksgivings lunch with family or run and do errands ( he likes grocery shopping). He also runs and bikes when he can.
HE is always running behind. There are always 500 things to do on top of everything and he cannot get to them.
He does the cows and his brother does the planting ( we run about 250 acres). They both milk and feed twice a day everyday.
It is very hard to get away and dh does not like to be away from his cows ( we got many very expensive show cows) and we do a lot of genetic work.
We milk about 90-100 cows and have about 200-250 animals total ( calves, bulls, dry cows, heifers of all ages)
Our kids are 5 and almost 2. We do not and will not count on them to help. They will help if they want to.
Alex
----- Original Message ----
From: Robert Saxon <TheSaxons@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 11:25:16 PM
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Living in a Farm WASCleaning and Respect
> If you have any more questions please ask.OK, I'll ask. How busy is it? How much stuff is there to do? Is it really
do-able to practice the "let them help if they want to but don't worry about
it otherwise" on a farm? My city-bred mind believes that farms are so busy
that it may not be realistic to "allow" this. So, either (a) How do you
manage despite all the work, or (b) are farms not really as busy as I
think? (or (c) I could just be really poor at organizing chores.)
--Rob Saxon
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
-----Original Message-----
From: BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...>
A day in my dh's life.
Yesterday.
He got up at 4:00 to do chores. Milking, feeding, feeding calves,
medications,
breading animals, AI, vet check, vaccines until about 100:00 or 11:00
AM .
By that time he had 2 other guys here because they are shaving cows
udders and
legs to keep them clean and dry. That makes the somatic cells count
drop (
cleaner and healthier milk). They got done with about with about 60
cows ( about
40 the day before) at about 5:00. By that time my BIL ( dh and BIL are
partners)
and our help were already milking ( you got to milk 2 times a day-365).
So DH
had to feed calves, heifers, dry cows, clean pens (show animals,
maternity,etc).
He got in at exactly 9:00 PM as usual. He went to bed at 10:30. Kids
want to
play with him since yesterday they had not see him but for a few
minutes when I
went to say hi. At 1:30 AM he got up to check a cow that is ready to
have a
baby. I don't know if she did but DH then gets up at about 4:00 /4:30
to start
another day.
Some days he does take 2 or 3 hours during the day to like go have
Thanksgivings
lunch with family or run and do errands ( he likes grocery shopping).
He also
runs and bikes when he can.
HE is always running behind. There are always 500 things to do on top
of
everything and he cannot get to them.
He does the cows and his brother does the planting ( we run about 250
acres).
They both milk and feed twice a day everyday.
It is very hard to get away and dh does not like to be away from his
cows ( we
got many very expensive show cows) and we do a lot of genetic work.
We milk about 90-100 cows and have about 200-250 animals total (
calves, bulls,
dry cows, heifers of all ages)
-=-=-=-=-=--=
I've said it before; I'll say it again: Brian's the hardest working man
I've ever met. The man doesn't KNOW how to walk---he RUNS everywhere.
He's always in overdrive, full steam ahead. Makes me tired to just
watch him! <G>
But he truly LOVES what he's doing, and to him, it's not *work*---it's
play.
But damn, does he PLAY hard! <G>
Hugs to Brian!
~Kelly
Kelly Lovejoy
Conference Coordinator
Live and Learn Unschooling Conference
http://www.LiveandLearnConference.org
________________________________________________________________________
More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! -
http://webmail.aol.com
From: BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...>
A day in my dh's life.
Yesterday.
He got up at 4:00 to do chores. Milking, feeding, feeding calves,
medications,
breading animals, AI, vet check, vaccines until about 100:00 or 11:00
AM .
By that time he had 2 other guys here because they are shaving cows
udders and
legs to keep them clean and dry. That makes the somatic cells count
drop (
cleaner and healthier milk). They got done with about with about 60
cows ( about
40 the day before) at about 5:00. By that time my BIL ( dh and BIL are
partners)
and our help were already milking ( you got to milk 2 times a day-365).
So DH
had to feed calves, heifers, dry cows, clean pens (show animals,
maternity,etc).
He got in at exactly 9:00 PM as usual. He went to bed at 10:30. Kids
want to
play with him since yesterday they had not see him but for a few
minutes when I
went to say hi. At 1:30 AM he got up to check a cow that is ready to
have a
baby. I don't know if she did but DH then gets up at about 4:00 /4:30
to start
another day.
Some days he does take 2 or 3 hours during the day to like go have
Thanksgivings
lunch with family or run and do errands ( he likes grocery shopping).
He also
runs and bikes when he can.
HE is always running behind. There are always 500 things to do on top
of
everything and he cannot get to them.
He does the cows and his brother does the planting ( we run about 250
acres).
They both milk and feed twice a day everyday.
It is very hard to get away and dh does not like to be away from his
cows ( we
got many very expensive show cows) and we do a lot of genetic work.
We milk about 90-100 cows and have about 200-250 animals total (
calves, bulls,
dry cows, heifers of all ages)
-=-=-=-=-=--=
I've said it before; I'll say it again: Brian's the hardest working man
I've ever met. The man doesn't KNOW how to walk---he RUNS everywhere.
He's always in overdrive, full steam ahead. Makes me tired to just
watch him! <G>
But he truly LOVES what he's doing, and to him, it's not *work*---it's
play.
But damn, does he PLAY hard! <G>
Hugs to Brian!
~Kelly
Kelly Lovejoy
Conference Coordinator
Live and Learn Unschooling Conference
http://www.LiveandLearnConference.org
________________________________________________________________________
More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! -
http://webmail.aol.com