Bare with me on this story, it's a winding road ...
Back in March, we purchased 25 baby chicks, we hadn't had chicks in a few years and now that we are done having "chicks" of our own, the time seemed right. Fifteen were a "blue egg layer mix", plus I added a few Black-laced-silver Wyandottes and Buff Orpingtons (if you don't know, Buff Orpingtons are big fluffy-butt golden hens and I'd always wanted them). Anyway, thanks to the hatchery sending a few extra of each breed, we ended up with 28 chicks. If you didn't know, a chicken will lay an egg every 25 hours, unless its overnight, then she'll hold it in until morning. So, you can roughly assume that 75% of your hens will lay every day. You can do the math - that's almost 2 dozen eggs a day. We can't eat 2 dozen eggs a day! Heck, we can't eat 1/2 dozen.
So, lucky for us, a friend was wanting a few chickens. I talked to the girls about it, and let them know we needed a sell a few. They made sure we were keeping the 2 "pet" chickens, but then they agreed. It didn't hurt that my friend has two sweet kiddos and the girls were more apt to share, in that case.
Since the girls had been responsible for the chicks up that point, I felt it only fair to give them the "profit" for their labor. Now, I explained to them that profit comes AFTER expenses (that was Lesson 1). So I subtracted a few dollars for the cost of the chicks and the feed that had gone into them, plus taxes for the government ;). And they were left with about $18 each. Lesson 2: I gave them a choice. They could take their $18 and spend it on anything they wanted -OR- they could invest their money into something that may or may not make them more money. Honestly, this took quite a bit of nudging from mom and dad because $18 free and clear is pretty exciting to a 5 and 7 year old! In the end, we convinced them and here's how they invested it...
I went online and ordered them each a pair of snips and a flower bucket. This used up all of their $18. I fronted them a package of mason jars. And so, starting this Saturday, August 12th, there will be a new addition to the farmstand: 2 small mason jar arrangements. A freshly cut bundle of flowers carefully crafted by each girl and priced at just $10 - a steal of deal, if you ask me!
We've spent the whole season talking about proper harvest stage, flower quality standards, and simple concepts of color theory and flower design. I'm honestly so impressed by their creativity and I think you will be, too.
And if you aren't, that's okay! Lesson 3: It's okay if someone doesn't like what you like. We all have different opinions and THAT'S GREAT! Might there be some weeks of disappointment for the girls? Yes. Will this make my mama heart break? Definitely. Do I want them to not throw their hands up in the air at the first sign of adversity? YES (Lesson 4). And I want to instill that in them when they are 5 and 7 because it's a lot harder to adjust when you are 25 and 27.
I'm really looking forward to this opportunity to teach these life lessons by living them, not just by telling them. The flower farm is a labor-intensive job. I love the flowers, I love sharing them with you, but they require their fair share of blood, sweat, and tears. To me, it's worth it, and even if the girls don't want to take over this farm someday, I hope they find joy and pride in working hard to accomplish whatever goals or dreams they set for themselves!
Sincerely,
Megan
P.S. Parenting is hard. I am in no way suggesting that these lessons (or any other) come solely from owning a business, or anything else. This is just me explaining the "why" behind our new product and the flower farm, in general. <3
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