Martin and Jeannie's children are our special helpers – willing, capable, and energetic.
When we receive grocery and produce orders, they excitedly come to the store to sort, price, and shelve the new products.
Jeannie instructed Marseilles on sorting lemons, looking for any blemishes or spoilage, and setting those aside. Then, when it was time to check the quality of the lettuce and put it in totes, Marseilles found damage on the outer leaves and wondered if those heads needed to be set aside like the lemons.
"No, Marseilles. That's the way they come. We take off those outer leaves before selling them. Those outer leaves keep the inner heads nice looking."
"Okay, Mommy."
It's interesting to see how focused kids can be on projects and do the job more thoroughly than some adults.
I had the pleasure of working with Mathijs sorting eggs and stocking the display cooler. He is the most precise person I've met and can see the smallest details.
He quickly understood how to check the dates on the egg cartons and place them in the proper order and direction on the shelf. Being short, he was able to reach the lower shelves and quite handily do the job.
One day, as the three Van Popta children were enthusiastically showing me around the corrals, Konstantijn asked if I liked how sheep smell.
"Not really. Why?"
"I love that smell," she exuberantly replied. "I like to just hang out with them, scratch their heads, and be with them."
"Mom thinks I stink," she says, laughing, "but, I don't care."
A couple of times when ewes were lambing, Konstantijn asked her dad if she could come. She got to be more involved than she expected.
One of the ewes needed help delivering her lambs, so Martin told Konstantijn to roll up her sleeves, wash her hands, and help pull them out. Small hands can fit quite well into tight places.
There is a video of K helping with the birth, but you'll need to ask for it if you're interested.
Not to be left out, Harriett has to help, too. Besides keeping the coyotes at bay and chasing after the bald eagles that fly over, she licks off the new born lambs when the opportunity arises.
A ewe gave birth in the open corral before Martin could get there and Harriett took full advantage of the opportunity to do her duty. By the time Martin arrived, Harriett was competing with the mom for licking rights.
While Martin was helping another lamb get it together after being born, Harriett just had to get involved. Only this time Martin was getting in the way of her duty, so she was rubbing against him.
Did I mention that she protects us from skunks, too? Well, she had had a close encounter of the skunk kind and was gaggingly aromatic. Martin had a hard time keeping his breakfast down. Thankfully, Konstantijn hadn't been involved with skunks.
Willing workers are worth their weight in gold and then some.
