Colter’s New Position!

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As the oldest Jonas son, Colter has a lot of responsibility and we’re always giving him new challenges. He has been the Goat Manager for a while now.  That means that he is completely responsible for milking all the goats, feeding, cleaning stalls, doing vet work, trimming hooves, and pretty much anything related to the [...]

Train Your Children Then Trust Them

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A few weeks ago we drove Brett and Colter to North Carolina so they could go on a two week Outward Bound excursion in the mountains of North Carolina.  It was the first time either of them were away from home.  While it was not easy to let them go, we believe that we have [...]

Be Protective, But Not Over-Protective

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We are protective of our children while they are still young and need us to protect them.  As they mature they are given the opportunity to test themselves and their beliefs while still under the protection of our household.  We try very hard to be protective, but not cross the line to becoming overprotective. During [...]

Time to Quit?

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When I was a teenager, I remember somebody telling me that many people quit right before they are about to succeed.  I was told that if you could just hang on (and outlast everyone else), success was almost always guaranteed.  I recently came across this sentiment again in a book that I read.  (The book [...]

Setting Good Examples

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As I look out the window, I see corn fields rolling by as far as I can see. The endless rows are broken up by the occasional silo and farm house. We’ve just left our destination – a dairy goat farm in the middle of Illinois. We are now several hundred dollars poorer and one [...]

Meet Colter

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Colter at fourteen has become a strong young man. Not only does he work with the goats, but he also has become the soapmaking production assistant.  You can learn more about him and what he does at Goat Milk Stuff by watching his video: We’re so proud of Colter and all his accomplishments!    

Fourteen Years

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Do you know what happened fourteen years ago today? I officially became Mrs. James Jonas. Yep, it’s my anniversary! How cool is that? Guess how Jim and I celebrated? By making soap, of course. And gathering square bales of hay out of Farmer Frazier’s field. And going shopping for more book shelves. (You can never [...]

That Was Stupid

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Generally as a rule, we are not allowed to say the word “stupid” in our house. But sometimes, the children do things that can only be described as stupid. Colter was washing dishes the other day and got his hand stuck in a water bottle. He tried for at least 5 minutes to extricate his [...]

What a Handsome Dude!

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We were cleaning out all the clothes in the storage area and giving tons of them (literally) away. Colter came across this suit and just had to put it on. Isn’t he handsome?    

A New Accomplishment

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Colter has learned a new skill – weed wacking. It started out with him helping me start the weed wacker. Then he started it all by himself. I finally let him spread his wings and fly… And now he weed wacks everything in sight. Yesterday the mail man yelled at us that we needed to [...]