Life lessons our children are learning on a homestead

Moving to a farm has honestly been one of the best decisions of our life. One of the most positive things has been the life lessons our children are learning on a homestead. 

The desire to move to land was largely driven by the family values we wanted to instil in our children and the experiences we wanted them to have. 

Life on our small homestead has been an excellent way to introduce new skills for the entire family. We can’t imagine living any other way! 

Family life lessons on a farm

If you’ve spent any time exploring our blog, you’ll know that a lot of our time is spent at home. For some people this may feel a bit overwhelming, or maybe even a bit boring! But for us, we all enjoy the time, freedom, and space our home life gives. Even our more extroverted family members appreciate the quietness and the chance to be in nature. It just means we need to be aware of one another’s needs and make sure we fill the ‘social’ tanks when they’re running low! 

Homeschooling also gives us a lot of time to pursue our children’s strengths and personal interests. It’s given our whole family the flexibility we need to make our farm life work. 

Reflecting back over the past 2 years, there are so many life lessons our children are learning. Here are a few of them! 

1. Learning to be part of a team

When we moved to the farm, our children were aged 3 to 15 and I was pregnant with our seventh baby. We quickly realised that we were going to need to approach farm life as a team. There was no way Sam and I could take care of animals, learn animal husbandry, look after a large garden, and manage all the daily chores without everyone pitching in. 

In a large family, I think it’s really important to acknowledge each person’s uniqueness and harness their individual strengths. We all operate differently and we’re all learning as we go. A good sense of humour and a whole lot of grace are vital too!

The value our young adults could bring to the farm seemed fairly obvious: our oldest son was getting stronger physically and our eldest daughter was developing great skills in the home and with sourdough bread. (This isn’t said merely to reinforce stereotypes – it was just how our children were growing and maturing naturally!) The genuine joy and enthusiasm of our middle children was also such a blessing as we tackled new projects. 

Sometimes it felt more tricky to see the ‘benefit’ that younger children could bring to a self-sufficient lifestyle! After all, a newborn is entirely dependent on us and chasing a toddler or managing naps and endless snacks can be exhausting. 

But I believe that even from a very young age, children can be part of a team. No task is insignificant! Most big jobs can be broken down into bite-sized chunks. When a person (no matter how old!) feels valued and appreciated, they are inspired to keep helping! Plus, by sowing life skills and habits into our younger children and nurturing those abilities, our whole family will reap the harvest! 

We seek to encourage each of our children to understand who God has made them to be and to use those gifts and talents to honour Him and to bless others. 

2. Living in the rhythms of nature

We are at the end of a very long, hot, dry summer. It’s halfway through autumn (the middle of April here in South Australia) but we haven’t had rain for months and months. 

When we lived in the suburbs, dry periods were an inconvenience and we’d see news stories of farmers standing in front of dry dams and parched ground with weary cattle and depressing headlines. 

I can honestly say that we had NO idea what it was like to live through a drier than average season. I still don’t think we can actually comprehend it because we’re so new to farm life and our region has a relatively high annual rainfall. But I do think our children now have a far better understanding of the rhythms of seasons and of living in tune with nature in general. 

Some examples of living in step with our surroundings include:

• Our day-to-day tasks are in part dictated by the weather. 
• We have the worry and anticipation of bushfire seasons.
• Clearing the land and burning off can only happen in a small window of time. 
• Growing our own food means that we are reliant on our climate and on rainfall.
• Farm animals have their own rhythms for feeding, reproduction, and moving around the paddocks. 
• Winter months are a time when outdoor jobs can be tackled, but the days are shorter and the weather is more unpredictable.
• Harvest time and food preservation need to be handled immediately. 

In spite of the challenges, the joy of living rurally is that we are so much more aware of every season. We look forward to the changes in weather and the way it impacts our farm and our lifestyle. We are excited for each new project and even when we feel frustrated or restricted by nature’s rhythms we are learning to see it as an opportunity to have a break or relax in some free time. 

3. The benefits of producing our own food

Our goal of more sustainable living includes producing as much food as we can and sourcing other food locally. 

Learning to take care of the animals that we are raising for meat has been one of the most rewarding (but also hardest!) parts of homestead life. 

The first time we raised our own meat was such a steep learning curve but the pros have definitely outweighed the cons. Here are some of the other benefits of producing more of our :own food

• We know where our food has come from.
• We are sure that the animal has had a happy, healthy life.
• We can ensure minimal medical intervention and freedom from most vaccines, hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides.
• We can foster respect and care for the animals, vegetables and fruit that we raise. 
• The food tastes amazing! 
• Our children are learning to eat most of a whole animal and not to feel nervous of cooking or eating secondary cuts. 
• Packaging and storing our food is a family affair! It’s all hands on deck on processing or harvesting days.
• We understand the privilege of space to raise our own food and to adopt a more holistic approach to farming.
• We are learning how to approach our farm from a permaculture perspective.
• Focussing on nourishing the soil to create a healthier environment for our food production.

4. The reality of life and death on a farm

‘Where you have livestock, you’ll also have dead stock’. 

This quote hits pretty hard doesn’t it! 

It is the reality of farming that all life cycles come to an end. The good work and the hard work of raising animals can still be brought to a sudden standstill when animals get sick or hurt. 

Our previous experience of taking care of animals was limited to chickens, goldfish, and a cat. Moving to property with goats, cows, sheep, hens, and pigs was a HUGE step and we quickly discovered that we were going to have to recalibrate our thinking about death. It just isn’t something that we can control!

When our goat jumped a fence and broke his leg three days after we brought him home, we all grieved his death. But our children chose to watch Billy being euthanised and they helped bury his body. They learnt so much about how we can honour life IN death. About how we can say goodbye and yet also look forward to the future. 

I’m still nervous of the responsibility of bringing new life onto the farm. It comes with risks and uncertainties that my Type-A personality finds hard to handle! But when we model processing these emotions and decisions and acknowledge them with our children, they learn so much. 

After all, it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all! 

So many other life lessons

This blog post is just one way to reflect back on all our family has learnt together. I know there are so many other values to share more about another time:

• The value of hard work. 
• Using homestead skills to bless others.
• Physical labour and building projects.
• The importance of thinking ahead and planning for the future.
• Foraging and herbal medicine.
• Planting seeds and growing vegetables.
• Homestead chores and a strong work ethic.
• Quality time as a family.
• Survival skills and bush skills.
• Seeing life cycles in action – understanding reproduction and birth.
• The opportunities for small businesses and entrepreneurial endeavours.

When I look at all these I am just so grateful that we decided to move. To embrace some big changes and to be willing to grow and learn alongside our children. 

I also know that many skills and habits are learnt outside of farm life and there are challenges our children will face because we live in a more remote location. 

All of life is made for learning, no matter where we’re based – we should be encouraging each other to always be expanding our knowledge and our understanding. 

I am just so thankful for the time and space to enjoy new experiences in our life and to plan and explore life together. 

What are some things you know your children are learning through homesteading?