What My Sons Taught Me About Life During Farm Chores

Discover how daily farm chores became a powerful ritual of connection, growth, and love between father and sons at Chelan Valley Farms. by Chad

How Will They Remember Us?
How will our children remember us, or how will they describe their “parents” to their friends at college…? These are the questions that shape my mindset when I spend time with them. There are times I lose my patience; there are times my response isn’t thoughtful. I want to strike a balance between being close to our kids and serving the role of raising boys who will become men. So how does this relate to “What My Son Taught Me About Life During Farm Chores”? Well, we have monthly chores for the boys. One of those chores includes taking care of the animals and young plants each evening on the farm side of the farm. Most of the year, we take the gator together, other parts of the year it’s in the pick-up via the road. It takes anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 minutes – depending on what’s going on. I thought this was a powerful example of “connection” which is what we’re all about. But also, a powerful example of our human love for “progress”. I’ll share what this farm side of the farm activity looks like and what the boys and I feel we get out of it – connection and fulfillment from progress.

The Boys’ Chores
We’ve been told it’s great what we’re providing our kids. Growing up on a farm and having an appreciation for hard work. I want to be clear – any of us can do this. In other words, having a small farm, some of these things come out of necessity. And I can’t help but think of the quote – “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times.” – G. Michael Hopf. In a way, the farm and its chores have created these “hard times” (I say this with a heavy dose of humility—we’re talking modern 1st world context here. History shows very clear examples of real hard times). There are plenty of nights the boys would rather stay at home and not make the evening trip to the farm side of the farm – especially when it’s 6°F outside.

Evening on the Farm Side
Let me describe what the trip to care for the animals looks like. Each Steiner boy gets this chore for one month at a time, four times per year. On a warm spring or summer day – it’s a gator ride. Our 5-year-old green, nothing fancy, simple to drive and use gator. Sometimes the boys want to drive, sometimes I drive. We take one of two paths through the orchard on the 5-or-so-minute ride. Along the way we talk and easily find observations in the orchard to fuel the conversation. Or, sometimes we talk about the school day or things they’ve got going on. We’ll pass by the sheep in the orchard and feed Angel (one of our livestock guardian dogs). All the while enjoying the wondrous phase the orchard is in – whether it’s bloom or now when we see the apples really coming to life. Then we arrive at the chickens, ducks, and goats. A lot of times the chickens and ducks are wandering freely – it’s quite a fun thing to watch. One of the boys will gather eggs as I check food and water. Occasionally there’s a surprise of something funny an animal is doing or a really broody hen hard to get off the nest. If we’re in flower growing season, we also care for the young plants in our grow room. There’s something rhythmic and very routine about this journey with the boys each month. I’ve asked them what one of their favorite things about taking care of the farm is – and they’ve said, taking care of the animals with Dad. Which has prompted the “why”. Why is it a chore can be a “favorite” time…?

Time, Love, and Connection
What I’m starting to realize is that this “month with Dad” might reflect something deeper—a child’s basic need for love and shared time. It could easily be said, I need to spend more time with them. Since we do spend a lot of time with our kids, it made me think maybe it’s something else. Maybe it’s about connection. There’s no escaping that gator ride time together. And it seems, since this time is allocated to something we can see instant progress on while relying on one another to complete the task – it’s a phenomenal “connector”.

At the heart of our mission is connection—we’re passionate about fueling your connections with great wine.

Progress
As humans we love progress (see the visual). On the month with the Steiner boys – each trip across the farm is full of progress. The animals are sort of instant gratification. Loading up into the gator, we believe in our potential to do the job, we take a series of actions on the trip and the results are right in front of us… e.g. the happy dog eating her food, the plants soaking up water, surviving egg collection un-pecked. Belief, Potential, Action, Results.

The Monthly Shift
As we moved from May to June and the boys switched chores… I said goodbye to my time that month with Carston and welcomed Owen in for the month. The transition each month is actually sad and exciting for me. By the time we’ve spent 30 days together (for the most part), the chores themselves become automatic, it’s the time connecting we both love. We’re so fortunate to live in this beautiful place, craft wines in what we think is an incredibly distinctive and unique area and help all of you connect through what we provide. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes and we appreciate you following our journey.

Cheers,