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I'm Beth. I'm married to my best friend, and he's pretty awesome. We have two equally awesome kids, Gavin and Sophie.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Raising a Farm Girl

I did not grow up on a farm.  I didn't even grow up anywhere near the country.  I've usually lived in bigger cities, but I always thought "farm life" seemed awesome.  I'm sure that surprised my family, and one of my brothers even said (sarcastically, of course) that he always imagined I'd be the one to grow up and do farm chores every day.  
My daughter definitely will not have the same childhood experience I had.  We moved out here to the country not long after she turned 4, and man.  She sure has taken to it.  Who knew I'd be raising a farm girl?  I can't imagine her any other way than the way I see her every day: running outside in her boots, hair flying everywhere, and telling me she's gonna go catch a chicken.  And I love it.  I think its a really healthy way for the kids to grow up.  
We have made it clear that the purpose of our animals is to provide for us.  They're not pets, they produce food (eggs) and will eventually be food, themselves.  I've worried just a little bit about her 4 year old mind getting that.  Because she also is very tender hearted and loves animals.  And even though we say the chickens and ducks are NOT pets, the kids have of course named them (doh!) and talk to them like they're babies.  I guess it really sunk in to me, last night, that she has made the transition to full blown farm girl...I noticed one of our momma ducks (we have two sitting on nests right now) is injured.  She can't put any weight at all on one of her legs.  When I came in from doing my nightly chores I told Sophie. I wanted her to be prepared just in case.  I thought she might seem a little sad.  She said "oh. One of the momma ducks?  So how many girl ducks do we have?" I told her right now we have 4, and one boy.  She stared out the window at them for a little bit and said "well, I guess we may have to just eat her then."  I think the boys in the house are the ones who would have a harder time with that than my sweet, tender baby girl.  Who woulda thought??

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