We live in a major urban center, and at this point, we aren’t even allowed chickens in our neighborhood. We have to actively seek out opportunities for our boys to get outside, to spend time around animals, to learn how things grow. Fortunately, we have a lot of support from family and friends in this. Thanks to their grandpa (or “Boompa,” as they call him), the boys got to feed and play with goats to their hearts’ content the other day. A far cry from raising their own goats, of course, but at least they got to learn about how baby goats drink milk and the grown ones eat grain. Goats, as you know if you’ve ever been around them, are fairly strong-willed creatures, and it was fun watching my little guys try to navigate around all the head-butting and pushing. I love seeing how our older son especially has such a gentleness with animals. He wanted to make sure that the littlest goats got enough to eat and weren’t being pushed aside by the bigger ones.
In addition to animals, we’ve been spending some time learning about how plants grow and where our food comes from. My parents have been doing an incredible job cultivating three apple trees in their yard, so the boys got to help them bring in some of their harvest. They picked apples together, and then big brother peeled and cored them while Grandma sliced them and cooked them down into applesauce. Our three-year-old was very proud of the final product, and our eighteen-month-old was very proud of mastering the word “apple.”
We also owe Uncle George a big thank you for bringing over a load of manure for our garden and helping the kids put in some cold weather veggies. Our summer garden is all spent, so we are excited about a fresh start as the weather cools!
What are your kids working on outside this autumn?
That sounds like a fantastic day! We’re in the process of building a home with some acreage and I can’t wait to start gardening and raising animals with out little ones. For now, we do a lot of nature walks and collecting things!