My Dream Farm

I am a farm girl at heart.

Almost all of my relatives on both sides of my family were farmers.  During my childhood in Australia I was able to experience many types of farms including dairy farms, cattle farms, and wheat/sheep farms.  I love the smell of early morning on a farm, driving the tractor, the smell of hay and getting my hands dirty. I love being on a farm. I become sentimental when I think of them and excited about all the possibilities they represent.

But (alas) my family grew up in a suburb on the outskirts of Perth.  (...which wasn't bad really although we had horrible neighbors.)

While I was at college I worked on a farm, carting hay, fixing fences, pulling calves out of birthing cows and living on a cattle stud farm.   I judged cattle at the Royal Agricultural Society Fair and joined Rural Youth. When I started skydiving, I loved spending weekends on farms and have always had a little dream with a farm in it stored in an imaginary cardboard box on the fridge.

This was the week I met my husband!  A picture of elegance!

I suppose that is why when I found out my dream farm was on the market at the lowest price ever, I went into daydream overdrive.

Maybe I could start my own sustainable farm there!

Maybe we could do co-op there?

Maybe I could start a Farm school!

Maybe Claire could eventually set a a veterinary hospital/rescue there.

It is 14 acres of pure heaven.

Chestnut Hill Farm!    Such a cute name!  Gorgeous barn.

Established trees! Stone walls!

The farm house was built in 1838.  It has original everything.  There is a beautiful stone pool and a pool house.

It is only 1.5 miles from the Merritt Parkway!!  So close to everything on a great road.

There is an adjoining 28 acres of forest attached to the property that you can buy separately with this river running through it.

The Volunteer Firefighters across the street!   Handy.

I am dreaming BIG!

3 things

I recently had a meeting with a homeschooling mother of four, community organizer and business co-owner.  She had just come home from a conference for science teachers.  Many colleges had speakers presenting and the common thread from all of them was this.  Today's high school graduates lack these things.

They lack basic skills. Skills like making their own beds or using a washing machine.


They lack the ability to problem solve.  They give in very quickly when they meet obstacles.


They lack critical thinking skills.

I have been thinking about these things over the past couple of days.  Especially the first one.

Coincidentally, another homeschooling friend of mine has three boys, including a teenager!  They do all the housework and can cook a fine meal.  They learnt how to do this when the mother hurt her back and couldn't move well for about 6 months.  She has been better now for a year but the boys still are doing the housework.  She has an immaculate house.

There is a lesson here.  Mom can't do everything.  She has to be in balance too.

I have been thinking about how people learn to have resilience.  What makes us persevere when the going gets tough.  Maybe it is belief in what we are doing.  Being invested.  Having purpose, fed by passion so we can see past the obstacles to the big picture.  What makes kids take a deep breath and push through difficult work?  How do we get them to see the big picture?  (Feedback needed!)

And as far as critical thinking goes, I am not sure if it pays to have critical thinking skills at school.  You master regurgitation of what the teacher wants to hear or thinks is important and you provide what you need to get an A. You master the rubric. You master thinking 'in the box'.  Check.

Critical thinking is thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is always true, sometimes true, partly true, or false. (Wikipedia)

As homeschoolers we are in a unique position, always being with our children.  I am always asking my children why they think something is the way it is.  I ask them if they really believe this or that? Is there another way we could do it?  Who do think made that rule? Are you stopping yourself from doing something because of some arbitrary barrier in your own mind?  Do you know something or are you just assuming it?

...and of course there are great curriculum guides for this such as The Fallacy Detective where the authors, Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn teach you how to detect faulty reasoning in 38 easy lessons!

I think I need that book.

Climbing

We try and fit a lot into our year.  It is hard to be continually driving from one place to the next.  I try to consolidate the driving.  Whenever possible I have my children take the same classes.  That has worked up until now.  Claire is not into breakdancing or parkour, and hardly into Kempo anymore.   She wants to do a competitive team sport.  This is throwing a spanner into the works.  We just don't have much time.

She wants to do a sport where the ball is "unpredictable".  OK then.  I am not much into competitive sports.  We tried ice hockey a year or so ago but she started too late to skate competitively.  She could have joined the leagues but she would have had to compete against boys also and checking was allowed.  We felt we couldn't deal with her being whacked against the side rails of the rink by teenage boys.  Most of the team sports are controlled by the schools in our town.  I am hoping this yearning to be on a  competitive team will somehow wither away.  Meanwhile I have been suggesting *convenient* sporting activities like climbing.

The climbing walls are right next to parkour.  I can learn to belay and then take her when we feel like going for a drop-in fee.  It is a cool looking place.

The climbs are challenging.

She likes climbing but doesn't love it.  It might be wishful thinking that this feeling of wanting to be on a competitive sports team will go away anytime soon.

Family Passion

I read a book a while ago talking about how to "grow" great boys.  One of the suggestions stuck with me.  The author suggested sharing your passions with your children and more specifically having a family culture and building family outings and vacations around the passion.

I remember going on regular canoeing trips as a child with the same families and that became part of our family history.  We still talk about all the harrowing experiences and near disasters that occurred during these trips, literally unforgettable memories.

I was reminded of my husband's passion the other day when he took the kids to Grand Prix New York. My husband is a closet race car driver.  Yes, he has owned fast cars, and muscle cars and now dreams about collecting muscle cars.  He has a particular liking for Shelbys.  He has had more than his fair share of speeding tickets.  He has taken driving courses at Skip Barber Racing School at Lime Rock and takes Tristan to see the American Le Mans races.

Cars (and racing in general) are not my thing, and it will never be a family passion but it is a nice father and son thing. (Claire likes it too!)  Here is Tristan with his sister and cousin!

It's noisy.  But a lot of fun.  For them.  I get claustrophobic putting the helmet on.

And from Friday onwards you might *hear* my husband coming home from work in his new Shelby GT500, the last car that Caroll Shelby worked on before his death.

Interesting TEDtalk

As we are planning to make a documentary about health this year, I have been scanning the internet looking for good documentaries and information on Type II Diabetes and chronic disease in general.  There is so much out there and while the numbers are depressing, there is a lot of hope about possible solutions.

I am particularly interested in how by overcoming these global health issues local communities, and therefore the people can be empowered.  Big pharmaceuticals and the food industry have too much input in how we live.

My sister-in-law sent me a link to this TEDmed talk by Dr. Mark Hyman.  I have read a few of his books over the years, my favorite being the Ultramind Solution.  The most enduring idea that has stuck with me has been the importance of eliminating sugar in the diet.  It is the hardest thing to do.  Especially as that includes anything that turns into sugar such as bread and wine.

I enjoyed the TEDtalk and wanted to share it with you.

Merwin Meadows

There is an awesome little place not far from our house.  It is a natural spring that has been turned into a town pond.  Pristine white beach sand is shipped in and the pond itself is surrounded by a  gorgeous green lawn, large trees and a river. You feel like you are in a nature cocoon.

On gorgeous early summer mornings we love to play in the river.

We enjoy walking Tuggles down the hiking trails.

We love skimming stones by the bridge, chasing each other around the playground and running through the field and under the road bridge to get ice cream at Scoops!

Most of all we like to share our special spot.

Lately we have been sneaking out in the evenings for a quick swim.  The life guards have gone home by then and there are no rules!  The kids can use their boogie boards and swim out to the middle of the pond! They feel so free!

The children have made up a list of dares.  One is to swim to the middle of the pond and touch the bottom!

Of course I am a mere spectator in the shenanigans.  But I love it all.

The Huckleberry Hill Project

This fall I am launching an experiential learning project.

The Huckleberry Hill Project is going to consist of a few like-minded families who want to help their children discover more about who they are and what journey they are on in life.  We want to provide the perfect environment for children to incubate their own unique ideas about how to make the world a better place. We all as humans have inner drives and get energy from creating, inventing and sharing our dreams.  We want to provide our children with the skills and support, trust and the benefit of our experience, so that they can go out directly into the world and turn their dreams into reality.

These dreams will be a unique manifestation out of the psyche of each child.  Some of the children already have projects in mind, some of the projects are already underway and for some of the children the 'big' idea hasn't bubbled up inside them yet.  For those not ready to launch their idea, we as a community are also undertaking a project that the children will be working on.

We are planning to make a documentary about how to cure the preventable disease of Type II Diabetes, through eating home and locally grown food, children educating other children, and other initiatives the group comes up with.  Through this project, we will all be educated on health and all aspects of this very important issue. We have local technology companies that will come in and teach documentary making, we have access to film labs and we have film makers in our parent body.  We are planning to enter the documentary in the Connecticut Film Festival in Danbury, April 2013.

We are hoping to be based at a local sustainable farm in Wilton.  All of this is in the works and it is very exciting.

Claire, has already started her 'big' idea.  Her goal is to rescue ten dogs from certain euthanasia over the next year (and continue beyond).  Her company is called Lucky Tails Animal Rescue.  In order to do this she has been exceptionally busy, researching, putting together a business plan, writing letters to animal shelters, foster families, vets, interviewing her mentors (at other rescue organizations) and emailing all the people she knows to get her vision underway.  She is working on her website and today convinced an animal shelter in Hartford to work with her.  There are definitely moments when I forget she just turned 13.  Her determination leaves me in the dust.  There is no doubt in my mind that she will reach her goal.