The Cherry Stand

Some kids have lemonade stands during the Summer, but not our kids. They have a Cherry Stand! 

We have a big cherry tree in our backyard. It produces sweet cherries that are great for eating, but not the best to can or put in baked goods. That left us wondering what to do with all of the extra fruit. Christian brought up the idea of selling the cherries. We decided that it would be a good opportunity for the boys to learn about working hard and earning money. We told them at the beginning of the year that if they helped take care of and pick the cherries, they could sell them and earn some money. For the last few months, Christian has been saving all of the plastic containers that our strawberries came in so that he could use them for the cherries.

Last year, we had small fruit worms in most of the cherries. They are completely harmless to eat, but since we wanted to sell them, we wanted it to be good quality fruit. This year, we did some research and found out how to keep the bugs and worms out. An organic, non-toxic spray called spinosad was recommended. With kids around, I was happy that it was a safe treatment. It worked perfectly... absolutely no worms this year!

Luckily, the cherries ripened at the perfect time (close to a Saturday) and we were able to pick them and sell them today. The boys picked all of the low fruit and then emptied Jonathon's small bowl into the larger bowl while he picked the higher branches. They stuck with it the whole time and were actually good workers. We got a little more than 7 pounds of cherries off our tree.

Then, Jonathon and the boys sorted and washed all of the cherries before packaging them in Christian's saved containers. I made some posters for them, and they set up their table and chairs out in the driveway. Times like this make it oh so convenient to live in a subdivision. They waved to cars as they drove by and sat out in the hot sun until all of the cherries were gone. Thankfully, it only took a little over an hour to sell all 7 boxes of cherries.

They sold them for $2 each. Jonathon and I knew that they could probably sell them for more, but money was the least important thing on our minds. We mostly wanted the boys to learn how to work and how to value money. We knew they had short attention spans, so we wanted them to be able to sell all of the cherries quickly. Christian and Andrew both did great! Jonathon taught them how to talk to people and how to give change. Our Christian Says for the day happened during their first sale. Our nice neighbor asked, "Did you guys grow those cherries?" Christian replied in all seriousness, "No, the tree did."

When all the cherries were gone, they both ran in to show me the money they made. They were so excited and had a great experience. We divided the money up and then separated out their tithing and their savings. They were both left with enough "fun money" to buy a little something, so everyone was happy.

I liked the idea when Christian first suggested it, but I didn't think about all of the great lessons that it would teach. Being a farm girl, I had tons of opportunities to earn money starting at a young age. I took it for granted at the time, but now I see what a huge blessing it is. Hopefully, we can continue to find ways for our boys to work and earn money... even when they are little.