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Simple Farmhouse Life
314. Raising Hardworking, Humble Kids in an Entitled World | Casey & Jason Cashell
00:50:13
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- [00:02]
Jason Cashelle
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Jason Cashelle
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Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
visit quattrodog.com a lot of times, parents
- [00:30]
Casey Cashelle
just don't realize what their kids are really capable of. And, you know, we can speak firsthand of this. And so we kind of always put them in situations that were beyond them. Not unsafe, obviously, but if you never stretch them, then they'll very rarely amaze you.
- [00:46]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
My name is Lisa, mother of nine and creator of the blog and YouTube channel Farmhouse on Boone. On this podcast, I like to talk about simplifying your life so you can live out your priorities. I help you learn how to cook from scratch and decorate on a budget through this podcast and my courses Simple Sourdough and the Simple Sewing Series. I also help people reach their goals from home through my business courses and YouTube Success Academy. I will leave links to these resources in the show notes and description box below. Now, let's get into the show.
- [01:18]
Podcast Host Introduction
Welcome back to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. Today is my first interview back after having baby Miriam. So that's a fun new thing to navigate podcast episodes and little babies, but we're making it work. I'm going to be interviewing Jason and Casey from Mayhurst Estate. We're going to talk about raising capable, competent kids, teaching them skills, and then also hear a little bit about their renovation journey with Mayhurst, the beautiful estate they purchased back in 2020. I think you're going to find this interview interesting and encouraging.
- [01:53]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Jason and Casey, welcome on. I'm super excited to have you. We've been following each other, I believe, for quite a while. You know, there's lots of things that pop up on the Internet and every time you guys pop up, I'm like, oh, that place is so beautiful. So let's start with some introductions. Tell us about your Mayhurst estate and, you know, just like a general overview of your family and then we can talk about your, your artisan kids hub and all of that good stuff. We have a lot to unpack.
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Jason Cashelle
All right, sounds great. Thanks for having us on. We've loved being able to follow you guys as well. You're always. You've inspired me for years and years before we ever even connected on Instagra. Well, so a little bit about Mayhurst. We bought it five years ago, three weeks before COVID It is an 1859 Victorian estate built by James Madison's family. And we. It's really an answer to 10 years of praying and dreaming for us. We had wanted a old estate that we could turn into a hospitality hub and make our whole family everything at our business, our ministries, our homeschool hub, our homesteading, all the things more mushed into one special place.
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Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah. That's awesome. So now, how large is the estate? And then I know that you have guests and you do retreats. A friend of mine that I connect with on the Internet and actually in real life many times, Sarah from. She Holds Dearly, I know. Just had an event there and I love seeing all her pictures from it.
- [03:20]
Casey Cashelle
Yeah. Yeah. So the. The main house is just under 10,000 square feet. And then we have a couple cottages, we have a summer kitchen, and then it sits on 37 acres. And one of the things that makes Mayhurst so unique is that a lot of these old estates, they don't have the original buildings. And Mayhurst has all of its original buildings, so it has the original smokehouse, the original barn, the original one room schoolhouse, which the family that built it had eight kids, so they had their own schoolhouse and everything. And then it also has its original summer kitchen. So it's all intact. Well, it is now, but it.
- [04:03]
Jason Cashelle
It was falling down when we got here.
- [04:06]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah, you guys had to do a couple things, maybe. I can't believe you picked that up when you did just right before COVID Like, that's just. That's really great timing for you all.
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Casey Cashelle
Wonderful.
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Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah.
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Casey Cashelle
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Casey Cashelle
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- [06:22]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
So I know you get your kids very involved and that's what inspired your artisan kids hub, because teaching kids skills and how to be creative has been something that you guys have become very passionate about. So how did your kids help through all of this? I assume you had to do all the renovations on this place.
- [06:40]
Casey Cashelle
Yeah, that's. You know, it's a neat story for us because I think, you know, I think sometimes people could see a family or they could see a business, and they just assumed that there was a plan. There was a big, wonderful plan. We knew exactly what we were doing. Everything went as planned. And obviously, anybody who has kids realize that nothing or very few things go as planned. So we didn't have this, like, perfect plan laid out. We just.
- [07:08]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah.
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Casey Cashelle
When. When we first had kids, we just wanted to do life different than what we had seen and kind of what we had grown up in. Neither one of us were homeschooled. Neither one of us grew up on a homestead. We barely had animals. I think Casey had a fish.
- [07:27]
Jason Cashelle
I had animals. Yeah. Yeah. He never had anything.
- [07:30]
Casey Cashelle
No, I never had anything. No. But, you know, the interesting thing is, is that we just really wanted to involve our kids from the get go. And, you know, it's funny because it scares a lot of people when they see kids doing things that they're not used to seeing kids do. And, you know, again, it's not like we grew up with a blueprint. We were kind of Pioneers from our own walks of life. We were trying to figure this thing out too. But we knew we wanted the kids involved in whatever we were doing, and we knew we wanted them to be competent and capable, and we wanted them to have the freedoms, you know, we didn't want to kind of hover them over them. And no, you can't have any sharp objects until you're 18. You know, that. That kind of thing. And so. Yeah, yeah. So. And, you know, it's. It's been. It's been an interesting thing because, you know, our parents are like, whoa, you know, how come you let them play with fire? How come you let them have an ax or should they have that? You know, so. So it is. You know, there's always challenges and there's always things to navigate. But again, right out of the gate, it was important for us for them to be involved in just a home life in general.
- [08:43]
Jason Cashelle
Yeah.
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Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Remind me your kid's age range. Like, how old is your oldest kid now? I mean, you've been at this for five years.
- [08:49]
Jason Cashelle
There's. Lincoln is. Yeah. So Lincoln is 16 now and Athens is eight. He's our littlest. So we have four kids.
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Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Okay. So, yeah, your oldest is the same as ours. So.
- [09:00]
Jason Cashelle
Okay.
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Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
How competent they become between 11 and 16 as you've been working on this project.
- [09:05]
Casey Cashelle
Amazing. Well, and, and, and accelerates once they get about 10. If you've. If you've involved them from. I mean, Lincoln, when he was in diapers, he was involved. I mean, just. He was involved. And obviously, you know, there's a. There's a thing you got to watch and supervise, but as much as he could, he was involved in. Know even before he was 9, 10. I started getting him involved when he was 2.
- [09:31]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah, yeah.
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Casey Cashelle
I mean, again, you know.
- [09:33]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah, yeah.
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Casey Cashelle
He wasn't using miter saws or nothing, but, you know, he. He was definitely involved.
- [09:39]
Jason Cashelle
Our kids have grown up in homes that we've constantly been renovating. So every house we've ever had we've completely gutted. So they've lived in renovations their entire life. It's normal for them to be in a construction zone, and so it's abnormal. We've very rare. Ever had a finished house.
- [10:00]
Casey Cashelle
We're still waiting for it.
- [10:01]
Jason Cashelle
Yeah, we're still waiting 20 years later, but yeah. So our kids are used to growing up in renovation zones. Always cultivating, always creating, working on the land, gardening. Just cultivating has been a fabric of their upbringing. It's been really important to us to let that be a fabric of their upbringing. So one thing that's that we often get asked by people is how do you get kids involved in these things or to be passionate about them? And really if you invite them alongside you, they do and you, and you show them that they are contributors to your family, that it catches, they catch on. And the earlier you do it, the better. When you involve a four year old in working at the house and on the land and doing projects, whatever their capability level is, they become just so much more. They're so happy, you know, to do so many of those things, like to do the everyday types of things. And then as they, they just grow expecting, like I'm supposed to contribute to our family. But if you never do that and then once they're teens, you're like, okay, now that you're older, you should, should contribute. This is a shocker. And they're going, wait, why? I never had to before. This isn't part of who I am in this family. You guys do the work and I show up and consume. But if they grow up from little ages on, it's what they expect to be in the family. Their identity is a contributor.
- [11:30]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I find that with our family that we have so much going on and we have a lot of children, you, it very naturally happens because we're home very often and there's kids there and you're like, hey, let's you do this, you do this. It's not something that takes a ton of extra effort. I will say it's. It was a little bit easier when we had our homestead because right now we're living in town while we build. And so there's not as many cut and dry jobs. Like I have to come up with some for them. Have you found that what when having a homestead, there's just so many more things that you can get them involved in that you have to think of things like it's very obvious what to do next.
- [12:08]
Jason Cashelle
Yeah, right, right. Yeah, there's definitely, there's no shortage of anything. They never have the ability to be bored. Boredom does not exist here.
- [12:17]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah, absolutely. It doesn't here either. Just with the household chores, there's plenty to do. But with the boys, we had a lot of tasks that aren't tasks that we have currently because we're living just in town and there's, you know, they mow the lawn and that kind of stuff. But there's not as many of the homestead tasks. Of course we have our, our build project, but that's, you Know, how do you decide what kids can help without you worrying about, you know? Okay, you have to be maybe less particular. You have to be on them at first. What kind of jobs do, you know, like, work well for kids to teach them skills?
- [12:54]
Casey Cashelle
Yeah, that's a very common question. And one of the big problems that I have seen is that parents in general always, or in a lot of cases, they always have a lower view of what their kids are capable of than they're actually capable of.
- [13:16]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
That's true.
- [13:18]
Casey Cashelle
So a lot of times we'll have parents come visit Mayhurst with their kids, and they'll be from the city, and they're really nervous about their kids. And two days in, one day in, their kids are amazing them. They're like, I had no idea you could do that. I mean, this happens pretty often. And again, it's. You know, that's a kid who grew up in New York City who, you know, doesn't have a yard, and right after one or two days, he's doing stuff. And I remember this one kid in particular, he met me the next morning at 7am and asked me if he could help me muck out the stalls. Never. Never mucked out. You know what I'm saying? Like, I mean, this is. This is right off the cusp.
- [14:00]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
And so, yeah, first. First timer.
- [14:02]
Casey Cashelle
Yeah. So parents, a lot of times parents just don't. They don't realize what their kids are really capable of. And, you know, we can speak firsthand of this. And so we kind of always put them in situations that were beyond them. Not unsafe, obviously, you know, but, like, there's. If you never stretch them, then they'll very rarely amaze you. And so it's important that you put them in situations and tasks, you know, I mean. But I mean, I think Lincoln was eight when he ran a skid steer, when he used. I think he was nine when he used a jackhammer. And again, these are things that, you know, would make a lot. Most parents kind of, you know, go crazy. But there is a level that you do have to pull back a bit. And again, there's a lot of safety, you know, and you got to gauge your child. Right. So not all our kids are the same. You know, my. My daughter and one of my sons, you know, they. They weren't using power tools as early as Lincoln was, so you got to gauge how they can handle things and. And their respect for it.
- [15:15]
Jason Cashelle
Yeah, and it just. Yeah, it does definitely depend on the kid and their responsibility level and their skill. They're just, you Know, every kid is so different, but I would say, you know, generally we've had the boys. I think good, tangible examples would be like, the kids before they were 10 were doing power tools. Well, they. We started off with antique tools. Um, so Jason started off with our kids probably when they were, I don't know, 5 or 6ish, maybe. Maybe littler with the antique tools, hand tools, no power. And then from then on, they would, like, they would build into drills, they would build into more power tools, and depending on how savvy they were, they got more freedoms as they got better. And then, I mean, eventually they were branching into all the different trades. And so they've done. They were doing. By the time they were tennis, woodworking and electrical and plumbing, tiling. Lincoln tiled our entire summer kitchen. How cool. He's 16, and actually just this week, we had a friend ask him to build a fireplace for them, and he was over there for two days and literally did the whole, like, the whole concept, the whole demo, the whole build, everything.
- [16:37]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
It was proud of that. Amazing, you know, that you did that.
- [16:40]
Jason Cashelle
She really trusted him. I was like, wow. And I mean, and he did an amazing job. And so, yeah, they're much more capable than we often can imagine. Yeah.
- [16:50]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
So let's just say someone lives not on a homestead, maybe in the city or in town. What kind of things would you start? Or how could you set something up like that? Because I agree with you. Like woodworking. That's something that we've been able to have our kids do regardless of where we've lived. What are some other. Or if you're not renovating? Because a lot of the stuff doesn't matter where you live. You were talking about plumbing and electrical. That's all. If you're renovating or building, what kind of projects would you recommend? Like, how to start that?
- [17:20]
Jason Cashelle
Well, so a good thing to know about us is we've always lived in the city. This is the first time in our entire marriage that we've lived in the country. So Mayhurst, five years in, is the first time we've ever been countryside.
- [17:34]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah.
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Jason Cashelle
So we have. We share that example of being in cities. We met in a coffee shop district of Louisville, Kentucky. We lived. I think most of the houses we ever had were either the size of a carpet, you know, or a half acre. The last house that we had was in the city, and it ended up. We got two acres right in the heart of the city was like the last undeveloped street. And so those two acres were mammoth for us. And so it Our, Our whole marriage and our raising of our kids has been in that context.
- [18:10]
Casey Cashelle
Well, and we didn't grow up renovating. I didn't start renovating until we had our first kid and we bought our first house.
- [18:16]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Really.
- [18:16]
Casey Cashelle
So, I mean, this was all new.
- [18:18]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
You had to figure it out.
- [18:19]
Casey Cashelle
Yeah, yeah, yeah, We've had to figure out a lot. And, you know, but, you know, so for example, a friend of mine that I had, he. He doesn't do any building, but he's a graphic designer, so he's taught his girls how to code and how to do graphic designing.
- [18:34]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
So, yeah, you know, it's.
- [18:36]
Casey Cashelle
It's. Competence is not isolated to the skill traits. It can be whatever you do. But I think that that's the big thing is I think as parents, sometimes you can burden yourself by thinking you got to teach them all these things. But I think the other aspect is teach them what you're already doing. You know, teach them part of your job show and, you know, just involve them in what you do at work. You know, if. If you're a dad and you go off to work every day, what do you do? You know, help. Help them understand what you do and see what you do. Show them what you do. Take them to work if you can. You know, I did that many times when, when I worked outside the home, you know, so again, you. You can always make excuses for why you can't, but I think if you just spend your time looking at where you can, because again, jobs are different, people's situations are different, and ours had been very different in, you know, our whole life. So we just always look for ways that we could involve them and in any and everything.
- [19:32]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah, that's such a good point. My business involves a lot of work on the computer and editing, and my oldest daughter has been working for me for many years because she's interested in computer things. And so taking her along on that, I think what you said is, is such a good point because I think so many kids don't really know much about what their parents even do. Like, if their dad goes off to work, they don't really know, like, anything about his job, and it's kind of left there. But that's something he obviously knows a ton about because he's going to do it every single day. So getting them involved in some way, that's a really good point. Just where you already are. You don't have to renovate a house.
- [20:08]
Jason Cashelle
Yeah.
- [20:11]
Casey Cashelle
Look, my daughter, you know, she's not crazy about renovation and power tools. She's worked with me several times. But that's the other part of being a parent is you try and find out what, what does interest your kids. And, you know, so for my daughter, she's really into horses. She wants to have a horse business. So I said, well, how about I teach you how to use QuickBooks, right? And so I started her on that and she loves it. So now she knows. She's like, just so. So she, she's taking a business class now, you know, just really loving it. And so again, that's part of it too, is finding out what, what do they like.
- [20:47]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah. So I have my oldest son. He's the idea guy. Like, he's always, he always has new ideas. He always is going to do them. Like he, he had something he wanted to save up money for. And so over the summer, in the course of like two weeks, saved up 250 or $300 by going around and mowing lawns. Like, you can't stop the kid once he comes up with the idea. And sometimes it's that balance of like, right now he's really into the idea of vending machines. And so he went up to the local hardware store and asked them if he could put a vending machine in there. And they're like, okay, come back with your business plan. And then he did. And then they said, we'll think about it. So they might be saying no, but we always. He's 12 and we're always trying to decide, like, do we let you do this? Because, like, I don't think you're really thinking about all the details. And so this is going to be kind of on us when you tell them you're going to bring him a vending machine. But, yeah, how do you. His ideas are always like, they're not always okay, like helping us renovate something at home. It'd be nice if that was his interest because then we could monitor it. You know, his own is public facing. Like, he wants to start a YouTube channel. He's put things on YouTube, which we've, we've looked at what he's put on first. It's not like I didn't know that that happened, but I always am. Like, I have to see things before they get uploaded to YouTube. He, you know, he's, he's wanting to go out, talk to people, do things. And, you know, sometimes it's like, I don't really think you can quite do that yet. And you guys actually had a reel maybe sort of about this, like giving kids confidence before maybe they're as competent. So speak to that.
- [22:22]
Jason Cashelle
How do you.
- [22:23]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
How do you decide what to let these little kids do when they think they can really do something that they're maybe not quite ready for?
- [22:30]
Jason Cashelle
Yeah, that's. That is a great question. We, all of our kids are similar in that they are all entrepreneurs. They're all driven and creative and constantly coming up with ideas. And yes, there is a total juggling and balancing act and saying not all ideas are the ones to pursue. But.
- [22:51]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Right. But yes, but I hope you forget about this one. That's what I'm always thinking, like, if I don't say anything about this for a while, your attention span is kind of short right now, so you're likely going to just forget.
- [23:01]
Jason Cashelle
Yeah, yeah. So I would definitely say that is we're in the same boat. You want to speak into the. Raising competent kids.
- [23:10]
Casey Cashelle
Yeah, this is really important. And I saw this. So I have a degree in counseling and so I spent a lot of time in the psychology world. And which. The psychology. Which our culture is very overly psychologized.
- [23:28]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Oh, yeah.
- [23:29]
Casey Cashelle
Right now, you know, so there's so many labels on kids, you know, this, this kind of kid or this kind of kid. And then that label becomes their identity, and then it also slowly becomes their excuse too. So it becomes their excuse of why they can't do this or why they can't do that.
- [23:43]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yes.
- [23:44]
Casey Cashelle
And so we've really nixed the labels and instead focused on the importance of developing competence. Because developing competence only comes about through the process. And so our culture is very product driven, it's very consumeristic. What's the product, what's on the shelf? And the process has really gone missing. But the process is really where character comes from. The process is really where the struggle, the failures, the, oh, I made a mistake here, I messed up here. That's really where that comes from. And what ends up happening is you shield the kid from that to so much that failure becomes this thing that you avoid at all cost. And the problem with that is failure should be a friend, not a foe. That's really how we should see it. And so we wanted our kids to experience that as much as possible as early as possible so that they could utilize it as a tool to help them grow. And so that was really important for us. And so. Because when you look at building confidence based on competence other than the other way around, where you just tell your kid he's awesome, so much so that it's not based on anything. And so instead we wanted to base it on Them actually doing things, actually achieving things, actually working through a process. Because the other thing, too, is when a kid is involved in the process of something, they see their weaknesses, which is humbling. And at the same time, they also appreciate other people. So whenever we go to, like, Mount Vernon or these other Biltmore, these other places, they will see a blacksmith, because they've been struggling with it at home, and they'll see a blacksmith, and they'll start asking them questions and questions and questions, or they'll see a guy, you know, making a violin or wherever we go. So they're very engaged in the process and understanding the failure of the process and then appreciating people who have wrestled through it, struggled through it, and are now very good at what they do. So I think that's. That's an important part of creating competence
- [26:13]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
and confidence that makes so much sense. And as parents, we want to shield our kids. It's natural to not want them to experience any disappointment or failure. But when we think back to things in our own lives, like even just. I have this baby in my lap, and the first. The first birth I did, my oldest daughter, it. I mean, it wasn't a failure, but it was difficult. And I realized, oh, I didn't prepare. I didn't prepare properly for this. And so that compelled me to do a lot of research and figure it out better for the next time around. And then, you know, there's been businesses I've tried that I realize, oh, that's a lot of time spent for this amount of money. And, you know, that's the. That's what has taught us the most, is the failures that we've had along the way. So I think that that's really important advice. Even though it's difficult, parents don't like to. You know, when I'm thinking about things my kids have done, they've entered in different contests and various things, and they don't. They don't always win. And that's just part of it, right?
- [27:17]
Casey Cashelle
Yeah.
- [27:17]
Jason Cashelle
You know, one of the things that I think we've talked about a lot and we hear from our guests is that they see, like, a humble leadership in our children. And I think creating, really, having a heartbeat to. To raise children who are humble leaders is a great desire to have as a parent, but it doesn't come naturally. It's going to come through. This means it's going to come through giving them opportunities to fail and to make mistakes. Because like Jason said, if you instill confidence and tell them they're amazing, without any founding for why they're amazing just because they're, they're in existence, you're amazing, then they're going to get arrogance. And so you'll have, is you'll have a future adult who goes into the workforce and they are arrogant and they are entitled and they, you know, may accept, expect to be treated as if they were an expert, but yet they don't have the backing to even ground that belief. And so that's where I think our breakdown is in our workforce right now with the new generation is like the trophy culture, the participation trophy culture bred this entitlement workforce. And so I think part of the way we can, we can have solutions for this is to say, okay, we're going to put them in circumstances that will breed humble leadership, it will breed competence, and that competence will give them confidence, not the other way around.
- [28:57]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
That makes a lot of sense. Okay, tell us about your Artisan Kids Hub and what, what it is and why you all decided to create it.
- [29:06]
Jason Cashelle
Well, the Artisan Kids Hub was born because back in the day when we started our kids with all the artisan hand tools, parents just began asking us tons of questions of how do you get your kids to do these kind of things? They were seeing them, you know, chopping down wood and creating wooden spoons and bowls. And when they were about seven or eight, they were doing, you know, all of these different things, creations that were amazing. And so we started having tons of parents saying, I want my kids to learn these things, but I don't even know where to start. I don't even own tools. Like, where do we even begin? And so that mixed with over the years, us renovating and having lots of couples, young couples, new parents, newlyweds who are going, I never learned how to use tools. I don't know how to work with my hands. And now I'm raising children and I want them to work with their hands. And we were going, okay. There is a, there's a systemic problem in our culture where people, no matter their, their degree, no matter what career they're in, they are wanting to learn hands on skills. A lot of times a lot of people want to be capable, and a lot of times you have to be capable because the trades crisis has taken the trades out. And so even if you have money and a great career, you're very likely not going to get a worker because it's. The trades crisis is, is here and, and we're in the midst of it. And so we have, what we realized was this through creating this online community, we were able to do multiple things. We were able to teach hands on skills to all generations. And so whether they're young or old, they can take these classes that our kids are teaching and they at the same time can grow in their confidence and their competence and it will be instilling character in the moons. And so our heartbeat is that people are mentored by history as we've been mentored by history. I think it's the solutions to the AI crisis that we have right now isn't necessarily trying to speed up and outdo to AI. It's actually going back to our roots and going back in heritage and saying, okay, what can we learn from those who have gone before us and how can we, our hearts and our minds be changed? And so the Artisan Kids Hub has been a community that we created online, but that also exists here in person at Mayhurst. And people are able to join us in this, this new way, new old way of stepping back and learning hands on skills and being mentored by history.
- [31:56]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
That's awesome. So we, I've noticed a shift, I think in the culture where people want to learn old fashioned skills, whether that's in the kitchen, tools, you know, trades, like you said. Why do you think so many millennials and gen zers are drawn to the hobbies, skills and rhythms of their grandparents? What do you think's causing this shift?
- [32:18]
Jason Cashelle
I think that we were the gap generation. We were the ones who grew up in, we're the ones who grew up with no technology. And then we saw technology come in and so we know what it is to have a childhood that's unplugged and we know how beautiful that is and how many amazing things occurred in that unplugged childhood. And then we saw technology come, we learned to live with it and adapt to it. And then now we're all raising children in it and you're going, wait, wait, wait. I don't want this screen obsessed childhood for my kids and I don't want it for myself. And you know what, growing up this way, I, I consumed technology and I didn't, I, I went with our society and I didn't learn hands on skills. And now I'm an adult and I'm missing the things that my grandparents had. And so I do think that, that our generations are the ones that are going, we need to, we need to fix this problem. We don't want to keep it going and we don't want to be beholden to a broken system. We don't want to be Covid really shocked all of us. It shocked me when we had barren grocery shelves. I looked at Jason and I was like, I don't know what we can eat here at Mayhurst. We have 37 acres. And so I had somebody come and teach it, teach us what we can forage on the land. Because I was like, literally they're rationing us to a gallon and a half of milk and we have a bed and breakfast and a family of nine here. And we're just going, what? How are we, how are we going to do this? And I just felt, I felt completely weak and incapable and I said, this is okay. I want to learn. I don't want to be beholden to this broken system.
- [34:10]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah.
- [34:11]
Jason Cashelle
What would you add to that?
- [34:13]
Casey Cashelle
Well, I, I mean, I think at the core of, at the core of human beings is a desire to cultivate.
- [34:18]
Jason Cashelle
Yeah.
- [34:18]
Casey Cashelle
I think the desire to, to take something and, and create something. You know, creating something out of nothing. I think that, you know, that's, that's a character of, of God and it's a character that's written on us as well. So I think there's just that natural desire. And I think now that we're seeing more and more people do it, I think it's. I think people are really just finding it. I think people are finding it very interesting and very appealing way of life.
- [34:44]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah. It also is the same reason why a lot of people are still moving towards homesteading. I think people thought that was going to be a trend that would skyrocket during COVID and then kind of die. But I'm not seeing that. I don't know about you guys, but it seems like people are still just as interested as ever.
- [34:59]
Casey Cashelle
Yeah.
- [35:00]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
What about the parents that feel unequipped? So they. Like you said, we grew up not really learning so much skills like this. This wasn't a, a trend back then. We, we. If you grew up, you know, conventionally, you probably went to school, did sports and so you didn't really have much time to cultivate those kind of things. For the parents who feel really unequipped, like they don't know how to do anything, how do you encourage them to teach hands on skills?
- [35:27]
Casey Cashelle
That's probably one of the easiest.
- [35:29]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Oh, good.
- [35:30]
Casey Cashelle
And, and here's why. Okay. Well, it is because. Here's why. I think it was Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher, the Stoic philosopher, who said that a lot of times the impediment to the way becomes the way. And so the very thing that you think is a Hindrance actually can become the way that it happens. So the fact that you don't know. A lot of times, the people who don't know are the ones who are best at helping their kids learn.
- [36:00]
Jason Cashelle
True.
- [36:01]
Casey Cashelle
Because they are just one step ahead of the kid. So they're learning, too. So it's exciting. I mean, look, I've done this my whole life. I've had to figure this stuff out, and I'm still doing it with. With my kids. I'm like, look, I've never done this before. I mean, we were just doing something the other day. My son's like, dad, have you ever done this before? I'm like, no idea. But we're going to figure it out together. And that teaches them way more. You know, we got to get out of this mindset that the goal is the finished product.
- [36:28]
Jason Cashelle
It's not.
- [36:29]
Casey Cashelle
It's the process. That's the goal. And really, I think the parents who don't know anything as far as building and this kind of stuff really are at more of an advantage than they think. Just having the desire to want to learn and just try something again. I run across people all the time, and the first thing they'll say is, well, I've never done it before. As. As. As if that's, you know, that's the reason why I shouldn't try. Yeah, no, just try it. What's the worst thing that can happen? You try for 10 minutes. You're already 10 minutes smarter.
- [37:05]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Right.
- [37:06]
Casey Cashelle
Than you were when you started?
- [37:07]
Jason Cashelle
Yes.
- [37:08]
Casey Cashelle
So I. I think a lot of times parents need to get over that, because as they're getting over that, their kid is seeing that and their kids are catching that. And so their kids are not afraid of starting new things either, because mom and dad's not afraid of starting new. And they're not afraid of mistakes because they've seen mom and dad makes plenty of mistakes and actually encourages them to just not be afraid of mistakes and try it. And so that's one of the best encouragement that I can say. And the other aspect I'll give is this. A lot of times parents see an area that they want to grow in, like teaching their kids things, and they think they need to go run out and buy a book or listen to a sermon or do something for it.
- [37:53]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah.
- [37:54]
Casey Cashelle
Yeah. And instead of adding one more thing into your life, just add the kids into what you're doing. Just add the kids into your life. You know, if. If you're cooking, get them into cooking. If you're renovating on a project, get them in renovating. If you're trying to learn how to get grow better boxwoods, go to the library with them. Learn everything you can about boxwoods. Go to a nursery. We went with the kids, we took them to the Ford factory to learn about how they build cars. So again, there's so many opportunities out there and there's so many people willing to teach you. So don't ever let that be a hindrance. It can actually be, again, the means whereby it actually happens.
- [38:36]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
That's a really good point. Very well said. Another thing I think people will say is, I wasn't taught that as a kid. Nobody ever taught me that. But that's not a good excuse anymore because we have the Internet and you can literally Google anything and watch a video on it, read an article on it. So all of the means to learning something is very spelled out at this point in history. So that's not going to work as an excuse, which we all make those kind of excuses, right. For so many different things.
- [39:05]
Jason Cashelle
This is true.
- [39:07]
Casey Cashelle
Well, that's the way I remember. I remember the first project I did. The thing that hit me was, look, if. If I mess up, the worst thing that can happen is I got to call someone anyways.
- [39:18]
Jason Cashelle
Yeah.
- [39:18]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah.
- [39:19]
Casey Cashelle
So I might as well give it a shot, right?
- [39:21]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah. Running that worst that could happen is a good. A good thing to help you. Because I get questions with sourdough a lot where people will say, like, I'll get like middle of the. Or not middle of the night, but like, I'll get a message like at bedtime that's like, I'm about to do this and I'm really afraid that by morning, like, what would you do if it was at this stage? This is them typing. That's what I' doing here. And I'm like, I just probably would just see what happens in the morning and then bake it no matter what, you know, like, it's going to be fine. And that's how I've learned how to, you know, convert a sourdough recipe to whole grains. It's just I've done it so many times, I've figured out at this point what works the best. But they're all. They all kind of work, you know, the worst case scenario is it's just not the best bread you ever made. So I think that's a really good point.
- [40:06]
Jason Cashelle
So true.
- [40:07]
Casey Cashelle
Yeah.
- [40:07]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah, absolutely. We can't be so scared. Okay, so how do you approach entrepreneurship as a family?
- [40:15]
Jason Cashelle
Well, that is definitely something that has been caught, I think More than taught. So our kids have caught the bug because both Jason and I are like that. So that has been something that I will say if you are. If you have a disposition to create your business and to be business owners, your kids are going to be naturally more. More in tune to that. It is something that we have fostered in them from infancy, I mean, from little ages. And so, I mean, it started with the lemonade stands actually selling hot water to our neighbors. They sold hot waters and rocks to anything. Literally. They. It was. They picked cucumbers out of our garden and went to all the neighbors houses and sold all my cucumbers. Cucumbers. And I was like, what?
- [41:06]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Those were pickles for the year.
- [41:09]
Jason Cashelle
I was like, okay, well, I'm glad you made money.
- [41:13]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah.
- [41:14]
Jason Cashelle
But so from little ages on, we've let them make their little businesses. When we. When we moved to Mayhurst, we very much said, this is your guys's opportunity to create your own businesses. You guys are able to. To build whatever you want to do. So, Holly, if you want to have a horse farm here, that is. And that's your goal, then let's start dreaming, let's start planning. Let me help you in creating that and making it a possibility. And so, so literally, on the moving ride up here to Virginia, I have a video talking to Holly, and she was, I think eight or. Yeah, about eight years old. And she. I said, what are you most excited about? She said, making a horse. Yeah, she was already dreaming about it, and five years in, she's still working on it, and so she saves money and her. All of that is going to it. I will say we. One of the things that we saw incredibly empowering in this, the. In creating the artists and kids hub was that the creating of online classes for our children to be the teachers was an incredible, incredibly empowering experience for them. So for them to learn a skill, teach a skill, film the skill, and then sell it online was an incredible experience. And so they learned that there was not a limit that they could actually create value into this world and change people's lives and create a community that people tune into, zooms for. And I think that has been one of the most beautiful parts of entrepreneurship. It's the thinking outside the box of saying what is a way that we could take what you guys have created in our learning and give it to the world on a bigger scale. And when we do that, you'll change lives globally. And so we are. We are getting like mail. They get mail and the. They get handwritten Mail. There we go. They get stalemail.
- [43:21]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah.
- [43:21]
Jason Cashelle
The kids that take their classes around the world. And it's really so, so cool to watch that. So I will definitely say an entrepreneurship is, is formative to the kids.
- [43:33]
Casey Cashelle
It is, yeah. Very much so.
- [43:35]
Jason Cashelle
Yeah.
- [43:35]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah. And the amount of opportunities that we have today because of the Internet, like you said, that would have been a difficult thing to do way back in the day because you'd have to find enough kids in your area who are interested in learning the skills and now they can reach the whole entire world. So there's.
- [43:51]
Jason Cashelle
It's true.
- [43:52]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
I do like to encourage people to think outside the box just because there's so much opportunity with the fact that you can reach everyone with whatever it is that you're interested in. That's true.
- [44:03]
Casey Cashelle
That's cool.
- [44:03]
Podcast Host Introduction
It is.
- [44:04]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Okay, so let's talk a little bit about restoring Mayhurst. It's a Civil War era estate. How did that deepen your appreciation for heritage and history? I bet that was such a project and is ongoing still. Probably such a project.
- [44:18]
Juan Naula (GoFundMe Story)
Yeah.
- [44:18]
Casey Cashelle
It's a massive. It's a massive undertaking.
- [44:21]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
And oh yeah, 10,000 square feet plus buildings, I can't even imagine.
- [44:26]
Casey Cashelle
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's. It's funny because a lot of, A lot of the guests that come feel sorry for.
- [44:34]
Jason Cashelle
Do you ever take time off? Do you ever sleep? Do you need some help? Yes. We actually have had many guests stay and help us.
- [44:41]
Casey Cashelle
We've had some really incredible many times. But, you know, as far as, you know, just appreciating it. I mean, the, the house we had before this, we were the second owners. It was built in the 70s and we basically stripped everything out of it and spent three years going to architectural salvage yards and buying everything old we can find from doors to wall trims to base trim, everything, and then put it all inside the house to make it look. To make it look old. So, yeah, so we have.
- [45:21]
Jason Cashelle
It's much more fun to renovate something that actually is old.
- [45:24]
Casey Cashelle
It has a story.
- [45:25]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Oh, you're telling me I'm building a new old house right now.
- [45:29]
Casey Cashelle
Right.
- [45:29]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
And so it's tricky.
- [45:31]
Casey Cashelle
It is tricky. Yeah. Because you're trying to give it character.
- [45:34]
Jason Cashelle
Yes.
- [45:34]
Casey Cashelle
So for us, you know, we love old houses, which is funny because when we got married, we didn't renovate and we didn't love old houses and now we renovate and we are obsessed with old houses. Yeah.
- [45:45]
Jason Cashelle
Over the years. Yeah.
- [45:48]
Casey Cashelle
It's just developed and well, that, that
- [45:50]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
was the same for us. Like when we looked for our first house, it happened to be old, but that's what was the catalyst for loving old houses. I didn't. We didn't purchase that house or fall in love with that house because it was old. We fell in love with it because of the location and the price. And then it turns out it was old, and we, you know, that was cultivated along.
- [46:06]
Casey Cashelle
Yeah.
- [46:07]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
After that.
- [46:07]
Jason Cashelle
Yeah, I get it. It catches you, and then you can never go back.
- [46:11]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Exactly.
- [46:12]
Jason Cashelle
No, you.
- [46:13]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
You can't.
- [46:13]
Jason Cashelle
I know you can't. Well, so, I mean, I think something to know about the. The area, since a lot of people probably don't know where Mayhurst sits, is in Orange, Virginia, and that's the heart of early American history. So what we found. I grew up in Orlando. Jason grew up in Ohio on a boating town. We are not from historic places at all. And so when we found ourselves here in Orange and America's heritage, we are surrounded by the founding fathers estates. So Mayhurst was built by James Madison's family, and it is five miles from Mount Peliar. And then we're just 45 minutes from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in James Monroe's Highlands, and then right by George Washington's Mount Vernon. And so we have memberships to all of these historic places. That's where we go with our kids for fun. We're like, hey, let's go to Monticello today and go, you know, walk the gardens. And so we literally. We live in history and breathe it, and our neighbors are all. All of their places are historic. And it's just. It's amazing to be immersed in America's heritage. It has changed us a hundred percent. We loved history before, but now we're a little obsessed.
- [47:32]
Casey Cashelle
Well, Virginia. Virginia immersed in history. And, yeah, you know, the. One of the ways that we've. One of the things that we've done has been really cool, is, you know, as I always tell the kids, behind every old house are families. And so we've traced all the families, and we've went to graveyards to find where they're buried at. We've traced the lineage and all this stuff. And so it's really been neat trying to put the puzzle together of. Of who has lived at Mayhurst.
- [47:58]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
That's awesome. So did you guys move to Virginia for Mayhurst? Like, none of your family's around there?
- [48:04]
Casey Cashelle
No.
- [48:05]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Okay, that's my thought.
- [48:07]
Jason Cashelle
We. We had searched for 10 years for an old estate, and when we saw Mayhurst, we loved it, and we toured it one time. We were here for one day.
- [48:17]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Wow.
- [48:18]
Jason Cashelle
My prayer in the driveway was, lord, please, please, please, please, please let this be it.
- [48:23]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Right?
- [48:24]
Jason Cashelle
And then he totally just did miracle after miracle. And after 10 years of praying and God's timing, as always, it's good and it's sovereign, but it is totally not what we're expecting, it being three weeks before COVID So the bottom dropped out right after we got here. And so we said, this is going to survive. It will be a story of miracles for sure.
- [48:50]
Casey Cashelle
Well, yeah, I mean, getting. It was a miracle in and of itself, right?
- [48:53]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah. The guest part of it probably was slow for a while, but the price was probably good because I know what that did to. We bought a house, but nothing like Mayhurst. We just bought the last house that we bought in 2019. And just what the market did after that is just kind of almost couldn't get into something like that afterwards. But, yeah, you guys have done amazing work. It's all just absolutely stunning. So, so beautiful. Dream property. And I love what you're doing, and it's so cool to see a family working together and instilling those types of values and homeschooling and all of this in their. In their kids and then teaching it with everybody else. Tell everybody where they can find you. Of course, we'll leave links down in the description box in the show notes below to your Artisan Kid hub or your Artisan Kids hub and your socials. But, yeah, tell everybody where they can follow you and find you.
- [49:50]
Jason Cashelle
So you can find us on Instagram at the Cash Shells and at Mayhurst Estate. The Cash Shells is more of the adventure behind Mayhurst Estate. So it's our family's whole adventure of cultivating this place and doing the Artisan Kids Hub. So you'll find us there then. Also, you'll find us on our website, which is really easy. It's thecashelles.com and that's where we share our classes. So not just our Artisan Kids Hub, but we also are teaching classes on marriage and hospital hospitality. And so our heartbeat is to help families flourish holistically. And so there are more classes coming in the queue. We are filming more in November, So, yep, there's more to. There's ones to find that we've already done, and then there's more coming in the queue.
- [50:37]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Awesome.
- [50:38]
Juan Naula (GoFundMe Story)
Or.
- [50:39]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Oh, sorry, go ahead.
- [50:40]
Casey Cashelle
You could come.
- [50:41]
Jason Cashelle
You can just come to Mayhurst and visit us. I know.
- [50:45]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
I was looking through all the pictures again today. We were on the way out to our farm and Luke was driving and I'm like, I just really need to go here.
- [50:53]
Casey Cashelle
I agree.
- [50:54]
Jason Cashelle
Work trip.
- [50:55]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Yeah, work trip. There you go. Yeah. What kind of size of crowd do you. Can you have, like, when. If somebody wants to do some kind of retreat, what is the size they can do or can you host?
- [51:08]
Jason Cashelle
So we usually the, the most that we usually do is 40 for our retreats right now. And so we hope to build larger venue spaces where we can have bigger retreats. But that's in the, that's in our prayer list right now. But for right now it's 40. Wow.
- [51:29]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
So cool. Awesome. Well, thank you all so very much for joining me.
- [51:33]
Jason Cashelle
Yeah, thank you for having us. It was a joy.
- [51:38]
Lisa (Host of Simple Farmhouse Life Podcast)
Thanks as always, for listening to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. My husband Luke and I and our eight kids work together side by side on our little homestead and use our blog, podcast and YouTube channel to reach other homemakers, home cooks and homesteaders with practical recipes and daily family life. For everyday sourdough recipes, make sure to check out our blog, farmassomboon.com and to dig deeper, we do also offer a course called Simple Sourdough over at Bit Ly Farmhouses. That's all one word. Bit Ly Farmhouses. If you're looking to learn how we earn an income online, check out my YouTube course at Bit Ly Farmhouse. Youtubecourse all one word.
- [52:43]
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