We have a bit of a routine that we follow on weekdays around the Peasant’s Manor and another for the weekends, being that we have teenaged boys in on the routine.  The schedule is not exact, but it is part of our day, and usually gets us up and going for the time being.  I think that as we add animals or plants to the place, the schedule would undoubtedly change.  I don’t think it would change if we added say, another hen, but most definitely it has when we added two Roosters to the mix.  This routine, or schedule also is what works for our particular family, and is a part of teaching the younger members of the family a bit of responsibility, and hard work, if you can call it hard.

The morning start out when the alarm clock goes off at 5:30 for Jordan and Dylan.  Usually Dylan wakes up and then he tries to wake up Jordan, which often times takes a great deal of work on his part, and we require him to try to do it with a fairly positive attitude.  There you go!  Lesson one!  Dylan has to get Jordan out of bed, and they both have to not fight.  This is not related so much to the Prospering Peasant’s ethos, per se, but it is how we get the day started here. 

The boys have to get ready for school and look after the morning feed for the ducks, chickens, cats, and horses.  I admit that as a parent, I usually don’t get out of bed till after they have gone to school, but there are two good reasons for this.  One is to do with having stayed up later then them, the night before, and needing more sleep in order to stay awake with the baby during the day, and the other is because they need to have responsibilities that are their own without me or their mom looking over their shoulders to see that they have done everything right. 

Me not watching over their shoulder notwithstanding, I DO look after the animals to be sure they are being properly cared for and not left to go without food or water, or if there are any problems that I have not been made aware of, or has occurred since the morning check.

After the baby wakes up, she has her breakfast, and lately I have been having an egg now and then rather than cereals alone, since we have more than enough of them!  After getting the baby dressed, most days we will go right out to the old above ground pool where we keep some of the ducks.  Those are the ducks that have recently hatched new ducklings, so we look to see everything is okay, that there is plenty of food, and that the adult ducks have their water filled, and there are a couple of pots of water closer to the ground for the baby ducklings that they can easily reach.  Being in the desert, water is really important!  Even though we moved from England last Autumn, and have not yet experienced a summer here together, I am forcing the issue because I want good habits in place by the time it does heat up.  Of my family, I HAVE spent a summer here, hiding in a camp trailer with the air conditioning blasting at full, mostly.  I have a good idea what we and these animals are in for! 

The next thing the baby and I check is the chickens.  My grandmother last week loaned me $15 for a bag of feed because we had not properly planned our feed purchase in relation to pay schedule.  When she did, she tried to charge me TWO CHICKENS as interest on the loan for one week.  Never mind the extortionate rate!  I did not give in to it because those chickens may belong to the family, but they are MINE!  I am not giving them away.  They are my friends till I eat them!  The point is to sort of illustrate that this is one of the most important parts of the morning and it takes a bit longer than it should. 

Checking the chickens means looking into the feeder to see that it is full, and shaking the water can for the same reason.  The boys usually miss these because they are usually full, so it does need a double check, especially with the water!  It also usually means shaking a finger at a few of the birds while demanding the “Rent” from them, which is a bit entertaining for our two year old girl!  We collect any eggs, return them to the house, and decide if we are in for a good day, or a bad one, and if we are going to let the chickens free range for the day, or stay in the coop.  Chickens completed, we move on to the horses.

Horses are meant to be fed between 1 and 2 percent of their body weight, depending on the activity level of the horse.  We don’t have scales just yet, so I admit the sin of feeding by volume!  Checking the horses after the boys have fed them is easy.  We have one horse who is a seven year old pony, so she is smaller than the rest, and gets bullied for food if she is left to eat where the others can access her.  Therefor, she has to be let out of a separate feeding pen, and the water troths checked for relative fullness.  Easy done.

Next, the baby and I toddle over to the vegetable patch, where our at the moment crop feels like it is failing miserably.  We water in the morning every third day or so, as well as the evening watering I give in order to reduce evaporation before the water reaches the roots.  A little weeding and a good look around means the plants are just fine, and we wander back in for a morning break. 

The routine is a good teacher for the baby, as well as something for her to look forward to.  She reads about farm animals in her books, then steps out onto the little patch of ground we live on and experiences it.  The kids all get to see where food comes from, and they get to help plan the care and well being of the entire operation, as well as the future of it.  We all have wants, and we all are being made aware of the work that goes into feeding ourselves, and living well on what we have got!