Family farm grows life lessons
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Isaiah, 9, Elijah, 11, Noah, 13, Micah, 16, and Kinsey, 14, are the Reinolds children. They spend their days learning life lessons on the family’s Callahan farm. Micah recently published a book on Amazon called “The Great Pond Race: A Rooted and Grounded Farm Tale.” Noah enjoys baking and sold his first cookie at a recent market event.
Amanda Ream
NCR Editor & Publisher
Rooted and grounded in Callahan, the Reinolds family learns life lessons on the farm.
A biosecurity plan is in place to protect the animals. The family avoids the use of drugs and chemicals in caring for their animals. Rotational grazing occurs to break the cycle of parasites. Herbs are planted to benefit the grounds.
“Part of that plan includes providing visitors with shoe coverings before they enter the barnyard,” Rosalind Reinolds said.
The homestead includes goats, chickens, ducks, pigs, a cow, dogs, rabbits, guineas, turkey and more.
“It’s a circus, but it’s never-ending,” Reinolds said.
The care of the animals is of utmost importance.
“Before winter started, they had more groceries than we did,” laughed Reinolds. “We feel like we’re doing them a disservice if we feed them junk. Are we really caring for them their whole life if we do that?”
The family recently welcomed several kids, including Moon, Caramel Twist, who is also known as Mel, and Patty and Clover, who were born on St. Patrick’s Day. Everyone spends time bottle-feeding and cuddling the baby goats.
“Goats are so much more people-friendly if you’re handling them all the time,” Reinolds said.
The family’s goal is a productive goat dairy farm that offers educational opportunities.
“We want our goats to be accessible and kids who don’t live on a farm to come and meet the animals,” Reinolds said.
She and husband Chris relished the opportunity to return to Callahan with their children, Micah, Kinsey, Noah, Elijah and Isaiah. The previously lived in South Carolina due to Chris’ full-time job, but a work opportunity led them back to Nassau County a year ago. They always dreamed of a farm full of animals and Rooted and Grounded Farm quickly came to fruition.
Reinolds works from home and homeschools her children. Their schoolwork is done online and the four oldest have a structured educational plan while the youngest, Isaiah, 9, recently moved to computer work.
“They have the freedom of when they get done, they can come out here and sit with the goats or chase the guineas,” Reinolds said.
She added, “We take the perspective of ‘this is life.’ Homeschooling is life, so we lean into what the kids are interested in.”
For Micah, 16, that’s writing. He authored a book, “The Great Pond Race: A Rooted and Grounded Farm Tale.” It features twin goats Phoebe and Ella and Cackle, a duck who’s afraid of water. The book is written for ages 3-8 and “celebrates the essence of overcoming fears, the importance of encouragement, and the unbreakable bond of friendship” according to the summary on its back cover.
Visit Amazon at https://tinyurl.com/greatpondrace to purchase a copy.
“I enjoy reading books, so I thought maybe I could write books for other people,” Micah said.
He chose farm animals for his main characters because “I’ve been around them all the time and thought I could make a story about them.”
Micah’s second book is already in the works, with the family dogs as its main characters.
Brother Noah, 13, spends time cultivating recipes in the kitchen. He recently had his first official sale as a baker of “Chuckle’s Chocolate Chip Cookies.” He uses Microsoft Excel to examine profit, loss and proper pricing of his creations, providing a mathematical life lesson.
Kinsey, 14, tends to sourdough starters to bake sourdough boules. The family sells the bread, cookies, farm-fresh eggs, and ground or linked sausage, as well as pork by the individual cut. The Reinolds use a U.S. Department of Agriculture processor, with bacon as the only portion not offered for sale.
Follow the farm on social media at www.facebook.com/rootedandgroundedfarm.