Surviving Teenage Entrepreneurship

Ai... it was yet another fascinating week with teenagers 😳 (who believe they know EVERYTHING and wish to make adult choices but still require assistance with execution 🤪)

Take Scott, for instance, who had signed up for market day at school today. Every student interested must apply with a proposal for what they intend to sell, preventing 10 stalls all selling cookies. Scott planned to sell biltong from a springbok he intended to hunt himself…

On our farm, there is an overpopulation of Springboks, and to maintain the health of the herd, we occasionally need to shoot one. The hunting was the first challenge, as the animal refused to stay still and close enough - like really why didn't he want to cooperate?! Of course, after a stray bullet passed through them, the entire herd took off and Scott came angry and frustrated home. "I wouldn't have missed if that stupid animal just stood still!"

While Scott stampeded past me in the kitchen, I tried to keep a straight face and waited to hear the full story from Lloyd who followed in. It turned out that he had been way too eager, while also anxious that this buck needed to be shot now, to have enough time to work and dry it.

The following evening it rained, leaving no springbok in sight. Finally, Lloyd managed to shoot a springbok on Saturday afternoon.

Such an animal needs to hang overnight before being butchered, so the drying time for the biltong was getting shorter...

By Sunday afternoon, on my kitchen island, the springbok was sliced into strips and marinated with spices. Everything had to be hung that evening, and fortunately, the sisters helped by converting my stock of paper clips into hooks for hanging the strips of meat. 🥺

Throughout the week, we had to check if it was drying properly since the weather was uncooperative. It stayed too wet and all the biltong and “droe wors” ended up in my scullery on the drying rack with a fan and a heater… It was quite a sight and a mission to keep especially the dogs out - imagine the disaster if they had feasted on this drying meat!

Meanwhile, Jill designed a flyer for the promotion, and Scott and I created a business card. Quinn assisted Thursday evening with weighing and bagging everything... it truly became a "family affair".

Friday morning arrived, and in the middle of the rush to get into the car before 7 o'clock, Scott suddenly presented a letter stating he had detention that same afternoon! As the kids depend on me for all their transport, a last-minute change in the logistics does not amuse me! Let alone the reason for this change, which was mainly caused by unnecessary frequent neglect of his homework 😫 Breathe in and breathe out Meike!

Jill also challenged me this week with "hormones on a roller coaster", finding everything unbearable. She preferred staying in her room and had a panic attack - adding to the Friday morning madness - over which bag to take on an excursion that day because every backpack at home was RIDICULOUS! Breathe in and breathe out Meike!

All that Lloyd and I felt like doing, was just having a breakaway and we considered taking the caravan this weekend (Jill, naturally, doesn't want to join as she prefers camping in her room).

The logistical challenge was however that Scott was going on a Mighty Men Hike that weekend - 50-odd kilometres along the coast with men only from school, sleeping in the open air and carrying your own stuff - and had to be at school by 5 Saturday morning!

He also still needed to get his stuff ready, deciding what lightweight food and clothes he would carry...but of course, he was "doing detention" that afternoon and the previous afternoons of that week were all focused on getting ready for his Market Day! 🙄

Surely I gained at least 20 grey hairs this week! Just wished I would lose stubborn fat as easily as the pigment in my hair 😂

Nevertheless, when I fetched Scoot on Friday afternoon, he had a big grin, a heavy wallet and an empty crate as he sold almost all the meat! After that, it was smooth sailing to get him packing all his stuff and even to get him up at 4:15 am the next morning!

After Lloyd dropped Scott off, we packed the caravan and found a last-minute camping place, close to the arrival point of the Mighty Men on Sunday. Jill reluctantly packed some stuff but insisted on bringing the laptop as she uses Excel to make her summaries and the girls were in the middle of their test series. I reluctantly agreed to this as the whole purpose of a camping weekend is to unplug and recharge! However, I have learned to pick my battles!

Fortunately, Quinn was quite easy-going this week, which was greatly appreciated and helped to counterbalance the challenging chaos caused by the other two! 😂

Oh and last Note-To-Self: keep a standard packing list in the caravan, because last-minute getaways can be more fun if you don't last-minute forget half your things like a swimming costume! (Especially when you chose the camping because of the attractive swimming pool 🙃 - however, I was as easy-going as Quinn and swam in my sports bra 🤣)