Dog Biscuits

When Eli was probably early teens, his mom was selling baked goods at the Farmer's Market here in town. At some point, he began making angel food cakes to sell alongside her cookies to make a little extra cash on his own. Fun memories for him to remember (and stories about people asking him if he really made those angel food cakes!), and she is still selling each weekend through the season of the Farmer's Market. Grandma is now known as the "Cookie Lady", and she expanded to sell some jams/jellies, chipotle powder, and now dog biscuits. Of course, there are lots of dogs getting to walk around the market with their owners on beautiful Saturday mornings, so selling dog treats ends up being a pretty good deal.

It was actually Eli's youngest sister who did those for a few years to make money, but she has kind of lost her drive to do it, so Robin just added that into her cookie baking and does them herself. But, she normally sells out each week pretty consistently with what she makes.

So, I proposed to her that the boys make a batch each week to add to her table, and then they could keep the profits off their sales. Eli and I have really been wanting to give them a practical way to learn about tithing and giving ... but we don't give normal allowances to them at this age, and so it has been tough to drive the lesson home, so to speak! She agreed, and last week they took their first batch, which sold, and they each made $7. They each had to pay $1 for ingredients (I let some just go off our normal groceries), and put away $1 to tithe/give at church. That left them with $5 whole dollars each! Boy! Were their eyes big!

This week we made carrot/banana treats

Their dreams of how they are going to save/spend this money is absolutely hilarious to hear. Nearly every day, what they are saving up for changes, and how long they will have to save up for, and whatever Jonah decides he wants to spend his money on, of course Reuben says he wants to save and buy the same thing.

They take their work seriously = )

But, they have never had the opportunity to consider a regular source of some money to plan on. So, I enjoy seeing their minds work out how long they will have to save to have enough for a certain item, and so on.

Right now, they are pretty motivated to help! And last weekend the weather wasn't great, so they didn't end up getting down to the market to actually be there during the selling process, but tomorrow I will drop them off mid-morning to "help" Grandma sell. I hope the enthusiasm continues ... and although when I look around at a house that needs packing and we're still finishing up schoolwork, making dog treats seems like a time sacrifice - I think this is worth it!