56. Katharine Gordon and Gnomes & Acorns

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Katharine Gordon, the passionate founder of Gnomes and Acorns, an online business dedicated to providing Waldorf-inspired toys, games, and resources for homeschooling families and others. Katharine, a seasoned educator and mother of three, shares her journey from a university student intrigued by the Waldorf education philosophy to an entrepreneur cultivating a community of like-minded families. We delve into the importance of high-quality, sustainable educational resources, the value of nurturing creativity and a connection to nature in children, and how Katharine's personal and business ethos promotes a lifestyle of learning and sustainability.

Connect with Katharine
Gnomes and Acorns

Resources
Rudolf Steiner
Mercurius

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thisgoldenhour.org

Transcript

Katharine Gordon: 0:00

And I believe parents, your job is to do the best you can for your kids in the moment and wherever you are. And there's so many different struggles that different families have to go through. And sometimes it's just the best you're doing. It's the best you can do that day.

Timmy Eaton: 0:21

Hi, I'm Timmy Eaton, homeschool father of six and doctor of education. We've been homeschooling for more than 15 years and have watched our children go from birth to university successfully and completely without the school system. Homeschooling has grown tremendously in recent years and tons of parents are becoming interested in trying it out. But people have questions and concerns and misconceptions and lack the confidence to get started. New and seasoned homeschoolers are looking for more knowledge and peace and assurance to continue homeschooling. The guests and discussions on this podcast will empower anyone thinking of homeschooling to bring their kids home and start homeschooling. And homeschoolers at all stages of the journey will get what they need and want from these conversations. Thank you for joining us today and enjoy this episode of this Golden Hour Podcast as you exercise, drive, clean, or just chill. You're listening to this golden hour podcast. In today's episode, we get to spend time with Katharine Gordon, the passionate founder of gnomes and acorns and online business dedicated to providing Waldorf inspired toys, games, and resources for homeschooling families and others. Katharine, a seasoned educator and mother of three, shares her journey from a university student intrigued by the Waldorf education philosophy to an entrepreneur cultivating a community of like minded families. We delve into the importance of high quality sustainable educational resources, the value of nurturing creativity and a connection to nature and children, and how Katharine's personal and business ethos promotes a lifestyle of learning and sustainability. Welcome back to this golden hour podcast. We're excited today to have with us, Katharine Gordon, and she's coming to us today from Prince Edward Island in Canada, PEI, and Katharine is. The creator and founder of gnomes and acorns. com and online business. That's about bringing Waldorf toys and games and other things to your home. And she's mother of three and we're so excited to have her with us. Thank you for being with us, Katharine.

Katharine Gordon: 2:24

Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

Timmy Eaton: 2:26

And tell us more, give us more of an intro. Give us any kind of bio you want to give personal and business and just give us a little bio of yourself so we get to know you and get a feel for you. And then we'll dive into some questions.

Katharine Gordon: 2:36

Okay. So you invited me here and I appreciate that. As a homeschooling network podcast. I'm sorry, not sure of the terminology there. And so this business that you've spoken about you mentioned com. I do have a com link, but it's primarily the Canadian site. So ca as well, gnomes and acorns. And I started this business as a Waldorf Supplier or in terms of bringing the life philosophy of a Waldorf education into your home and the homeschoolers seem to have found me and I'm very excited about that because I did. You mentioned I'm mother of three. They're adults now. My youngest is 24 and we did homeschool a little bit throughout the years. And obviously lots of challenge to that. And so if I can. If I can bring products to the homeschooling. Families, that's great. And I really would love to, to do that. So hopefully this will help in that, to that end. Excellent. I don't know. Okay. If there's anything you specifically want to know, Tim, you could probably

Timmy Eaton: 3:46

ask me. Yeah, no we'll carry on with it. No, that's a great introduction. I really appreciate that. Yeah there's some things definitely to unpack from what you just said there. So one thing I was wondering about is that you mentioned was in those years that you were homeschooling, because what Katharine and I talked about before we, we started the episode, and she was saying that her choice, her first choice is definitely a Waldorf school. And so tell us how that came to be. Like why was that? Why is that your clear first choice for you?

Katharine Gordon: 4:12

So it grew a little bit during my university years, I did do a little bit of education classes and it came across the radar and it was just very just the philosophy behind a Waldorf education is prime. Kind of gentle, in a way. Yes, that's a good way to put it. Yeah, and very the relationship to, to actually nature, and we use the term nature I have a good friend that I met through a Waldorf school, and she's from Denmark, Copenhagen. And when she was living in Toronto, where I was at the time, she always talked about getting back to the nature. And I always, that always made me laugh. And, but the nature is so important. And Waldorf philosophy is very much based on the academics are very much based in bringing nature Into the academic program. And so that just really resonated with me. And as when I had my kids, I just They would have been fine in a public school. I wasn't fine in a public school. One, one thing that's a huge part in our lives is we're foodies, if you will. And organic food. From the time I'm 62 now. And I think when I first left home at age 17 and started buying groceries, it was organic food, way back, whatever that would have been 1978. And so long time at this and no television. So organic food, no television. And this was back, in the early eighties. And you were an anomaly. Yeah,

Timmy Eaton: 5:52

you were a pioneer in that area.

Katharine Gordon: 5:54

Yeah. Yeah, and it just, it literally came, my grandparents were farmers and I think it just evolved very naturally. And just the idea of fighting every day with kids and I think I actually saw or read or heard something you and Tim, you and Sarah, your wife, Sarah, saying something about that with your children and just the choices you make as families where you just want every day to be calmer and anyway, so going to a public school would have been very challenging for me and finding a Waldorf community of like minded, people in, let's see, that would have been 1990, was just really just, it was just this breath Of just fresh air and no, no stress. And I just, the more I became involved in the Waldorf school because I jumped right in, I had the very, wonderful opportunity to be a stay at home mom. And so I could really devote myself to my kids and their educational journey and spending time in the Waldorf school and just becoming more and more involved. And then. The schools always seem to struggle or you move or whatever. And so we would homeschool. So I think I, one, one child for grade six, one child for grade eight. Yeah. One child, none of my kids started grade one. Yeah. I think my first son, my older son, we homeschooled for the first three or four years, my youngest, we've schooled for the first three years. So there were, it was just a very I'm talking with my hands. No, it's good.

Timmy Eaton: 7:29

I like it.

Katharine Gordon: 7:30

I'm French Canadian. No, I'm not, but I grew up in Montreal. I always joked lots of hand movement. You just Yeah, anyway, so it was a definitely kind of an organic process for me. Yeah. Discovering the Waldorf schools, discovering the Wolf programs, and then just the handwork is so important in the, the academics of a Waldorf philosophy. And I Just embrace that totally and the kids embrace it and just bringing that into your home on a daily basis is just lovely, much less the singing and the verses and the, this, the spirituality and again, a lot of, sort of nature, spirituality, it's just so lovely.

Timmy Eaton: 8:14

Yeah. So that really appealed to you. And you said your first exposure to that was like in university when you were reading about some things and that was your first experience.

Katharine Gordon: 8:21

Yeah. Yeah. You're trying to figure out your career a little bit and I've always been drawn to animals and I actually thought I was going to be a vet forever and ever. And then just realizing I didn't have the drive for that. So it's okay, let's go, maybe I'll be a teacher and taking some education courses and finding that. And again, just doing the projects that you do when you're, an undergrad. That was really cool actually. And Rudolf Steiner. I'm very, I'm quite a cynic in many ways. And this one individual in 1918, Walder school celebrated their hundredth birthday and night in yeah. And in 19, whatever that would have been 2020, 2019. Thank you. So this one man, he did, the biodynamics are Steiner by dynamic agricultural Steiner products, which are face, phrase creams is Steiner. That's the holistic health line at Steiner. He's most well known for the Waldorf education, but he's got other stuff. Oh my gosh. And I, to tell you the truth, I don't even read much of it because it's just right over my head. He's got a library full around the world of volumes. If anybody has more interest in finding anything out, but

Timmy Eaton: 9:37

Anyway, I was glad to hear that you said you came across that university because I, in my experience, and I did three education degrees, a bachelor's, a master's and a doctorate degree in education and never really. Studied Waldorf. I never heard of that. Anything I've ever read is on my own. You mentioned the word gentle and I love that you said it's like you were looking for a word and you said the word gentle. I like this little bit here. It says teachers in Waldorf schools are dedicated to generating an inner enthusiasm for learning within every child. This eliminates the need for competitive testing. Academic placement and rewards to motivate learning and allows motivation to arise from within. It helps engender the capacity for joyful, lifelong learning. And I think, I can't speak for all home education families and unschooling families, but I feel like those principles of learning and educating and cultivating an individual are held dear to us and probably to most parents, right? But I love that your, that emphasis on gentle and then this idea of nature, and then you said, did you say the hand

Katharine Gordon: 10:36

work? Yes. Yeah. Cause that was that was new to me. Talk

Timmy Eaton: 10:40

about that a little bit and explain that a little bit. What did you mean by that? What does that look like? And what is that?

Katharine Gordon: 10:45

Yeah, so actually, and I'm sure most homeschooling families immerse themselves quite a bit in handwork at home because it's just, so it's learning, it's learning how to make things. things again. And even over Christmas. So my youngest is 24. Both my two youngest are girls and 34 or 32 and 24. And both of them start knitting again. We're sitting around the Christmas tree and they're like, mom, where's the knitting basket? I'm like, okay, I'll go take that out. And we got the book out and they all, they were like, Oh my God, what year did we make socks? So that was grade five. And But it's just this, and of course during the pandemic, handwork exploded, I think, for many people. And that actually we could have a whole podcast just on that, because I think that's just a need, again, for calming, focused activity that embraces your brain, your hands, you can sit quietly and focus on creating, and usually they're beautiful, they're things that you create. Are beautiful. And that that just actually brings up, cause one thing it's my life every day, if we all just made everything beautiful, whatever it is, if there was just a focus on beauty, I just think life. Would be so much better.

12:09

I

Timmy Eaton: 12:09

love, I love what you have on your site that talks about seeing beauty, creating art, loving reading and sustaining nature. And I think that's so consistent with kind of these principles that you're espousing right now. That's excellent. Yeah. So that's,

Katharine Gordon: 12:23

That's everything on the site whenever people get a chance to go check it out, it's all me and it's been a huge learning curve. I started four years ago and it's Shopify is the. Platform that's on it and I remember okay, I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna push I'm gonna push that Shopify button and it's gonna start and something's gonna happen. I'm not really sure what and I've just learned literally pushing one button at a time over these last four years and coming up with some of these, for lack of a better word, it's a slogan, right? But it, it's it's what I believe so strongly and yeah, so see beauty and it's whether you're walking on a beach or through the woods or in, in your city park, too and just looking for beauty and if any of these products can help. Children, I think that's mother, inspiring children and their families, to see this, to S and to learn, to love reading and to create art, so that's, again, with the homeschooling families, these products that I have that can help, bring this into your homes. And I know we'll, we might talk a little bit more about that, but I'm happy to do special orders. I should say that right? Oh, that's great. That comes up. And most of the products are through Mercurius Canada, which Mercurius is a company from Europe, mostly based between Denmark, not Denmark, I'm sorry, the Netherlands and Germany. And they supply the Waldorf schools, around the world with the art products. They're beautiful products. And those are the primarily, I try to source a little bit in Canadian, Canadian products as much as I can as well. But primarily through Mercurius Canada.

Timmy Eaton: 14:11

I love what you said, like when it came to When you were talking about the handwork and I could just envision like your family kind of sitting around at Christmas time, which was interesting because in our family for years, my wife has had this tradition where all the kids, we have six children and they all make each other handmade gifts every Christmas and that carries on and we've got, we range now from age 10 to age 20 and and so I, I love that and I don't think that I have been cultivated in that way personally. And it's been so good to see my wife and especially my oldest daughter and my kids cultivate those skills. But I think what you did was you tied together some things that are dear to, and we call it homeschool families, run school families, but really it's just families that are learning together. And I've, sometimes I'm hesitant to categorize or to compartmentalize families because it's principles of learning and living that we're more interested in than declaring how we're going to do education or something. But and I like how you laid that out, and then I did go ahead.

Katharine Gordon: 15:08

I'm sorry to interrupt, but I did want to speak to this because I have been involved. in, in Waldorf schools for 30 years. And I absolutely say every time, I will never say it's the best education. All I say is, it's the best education for me. And not even the best education for my children, the best education for me as a parent. And I believe parents, your job is to do the best you can, for your kids, in the moment and wherever you are. And there's so many different struggles that different families have to go through. And sometimes you just have to do the, it's just the best you're doing. It's the best you can do that day, right? So I absolutely don't ever, there's, I never ever want to say to anybody that, oh, if you're not doing this, if you can bring Hamburg to your family, great, but if you're working two jobs and you don't have time, your kids are going to be fine and you're doing the best you can.

Timmy Eaton: 16:08

Again, and I think that's so important, and that's why I love what you said, like about seeing beauty and reading aloud. One thing that I thought of when I saw what you said about reading aloud, that's obviously a very common practice among homeschool families. And one thing that, that goes with is working with your hands. It's so common that I've seen homeschool families who do read alouds almost every day. If not every day and kids will be doing something with their hands as they listen and that it's such a great way to, and I don't think the word is multitask. I think it's just the reality of being read to and really focusing while doing something else. And so I love that. Now, when you say that I love that. I love what you said about every family and every individual kind of has to work, find what works for them and based on their circumstances and their personal values, I think that's really good for all families to hear. When when you weren't able to have your kids in a Waldorf school, you chose to homeschool at least at times, like you were describing earlier. Why was that? Why, for you personally, again, it's only, your experience. Why did you choose that instead of another option? Or how did you know about the option?

Katharine Gordon: 17:15

Yeah, no, and I, it was totally just winging it, like absolutely winging it. The idea was that I wasn't, me as, as the adult, as the parent, and this, I just really stress this so hard, I wasn't comfortable with sending them to a public, the public school. And again, I think a strong public school is so important and education is so important for, we're seeing it, we're seeing the fallout of not having a strong public schools. Um, Which are. Um, But I, actually think and I think it is called, I just heard you say the unschooling. I think you can, if your family has a good library, and it used to be a good set of encyclopedias. I don't know what factories do now. I bought my first computer as I made my last payment on the world book. I remember this, like whatever that was, 1990. six or something like that. It was funny. But anyway so I guess you don't need a good set of encyclopedias anymore. But your kids will be just fine. They really will. They might miss a bit of the socials. I actually think social is more important than any, it's the only reason to send your kids to school in lots of ways. Yeah. So reason I ended up homeschooling was I just wasn't, I just knew I couldn't send them to the Bible school, but it had more to do with, like I said earlier, the fact that we didn't have a television and the fact that we didn't, we ate And, and it was just eliminating those stressors from, having young kids is there's enough stress going on as it is. So just eliminating the outstart, the external stressors onto your family life. And I just felt. I could do it and maybe I just had a little overconfidence, but I also, I had the Waldorf curriculum as a support. So I could just follow that. And one of the things that I just love about the Waldorf curriculum is the kids make their own main lesson books and that was brought to me. By an early pioneer family back in 19, early 80s, early 90s, and so I have brought that to any other Waldorf school that I've gone and we bind, you bind these, they're coffee table books of the years lesson. In any homeschooling family, I hope you can do something like that where you literally bind your years. And it's easy to do, a little embroidery floss along the edging, a watercolor painting. And your kids, my daughter, my 24 year old, brought it out for a friend of hers at Christmas who came to visit and she brought out her grade eight book, so proudly. And her friend was just, Shocked at the work that she had done. So that's very cool. So that I think for me to homeschool, I just followed a curriculum pattern. And what

Timmy Eaton: 20:06

I love about what you've just laid out is that you were, you had very clear purposes that you had individually and for your family. And it was a lifestyle and you, and I love that you were, I don't like you're unique in that way compared to the majority, I would say in that. And I think homeschool families are too in a lot of ways, that they said here are my clear purposes and the priorities that I have for my, me and my family, and then I hold true to those. And I love that you did that. Not that you were, not that you were criticizing the other ways, but for you and your family, you wanted to do it a certain way. And when you talked about those books, I love that because, have you heard of Charlotte Mason? Do you know Charlotte Mason at all? I do not know that I think you'd be interested in Charlotte Mason is is a British educator from the 1800s and hugely influential to to education in general, and then to tons of homeschooling. Yeah. Her name is Charlotte Mason from she's from England. And she, one of the things that she talks about is this idea of commonplacing and nature journaling and the nature journaling part of it. Like I ha I'm looking over in our library and seeing all my kids journals and their commonplace journals that my wife has gotten for them and a very similar idea. And I like what you said when you said like the embroidered edges and those types of things are just like you said, the word beautiful, it's beautiful. Yeah, they learn that and then they're proud of them and it's their, it's theirs. And they record their learning. It's awesome. And it's their

Katharine Gordon: 21:29

best work. That's another important thing. So many times, especially this is really funny and I'm sure you've experienced this as your children. Get older when you're in it as a parent. You just think, Oh my God, grade three is like the end all be all so important. And you're just gonna remember this forever. And if you make a mistake as a parent, Oh, my God. And the fact is, it doesn't matter, but it doesn't matter in the long, so if you just keep, if you focus on your best work, you don't keep everything and then you've got this collection, like you say, your kids are so proud to, to look back on because they worked really hard to create. And you've, as a parent, you've given it value by taking it out of the drawer, where everything gets shoved and making it into something beautiful that they'll have forever. And they

Timmy Eaton: 22:19

have a sense of ownership too. I would like, I I interviewed John Muir Laws. Do you know who that is? John Muir Laws?

Katharine Gordon: 22:26

Okay. It's funny. I saw that is, I know who John is. John Muir is. Yeah. Is there a

Timmy Eaton: 22:30

relationship there? No, not really. But his name is John Muir Laws. He actually goes by Jack Laws. And he has, he is like the nature journaling and nature drawing, like guru. Like he's just, he spent six years in the Sierra Nevada mountains drawing everything that could be.

Katharine Gordon: 22:47

But it's not, he's not related to John Muir. I don't know

Timmy Eaton: 22:50

if there's, I think there's a connection in why he was named that through his grandmother. If I remember, if you go back on my podcast, you'll see his, you'll see his episode. It's worth listening to. He is a, an exceptional individual, but I would encourage you to do that. Cause I think you'd like that. But one thing that you said earlier that I'm intrigued by is, you started this business, you moved to PEI you started, you say four years ago? Yes. Gnomes and acorns. And you said that homeschoolers have found you and I know my wife is one of them. How do you know that they found you? And and then how has that affected your business and the products that you produce?

Katharine Gordon: 23:25

Yeah, so I get maybe a little bit I'm guessing, but when I get an order for, 10 main lesson books and some watercolor paint, I think, Oh, that's a homeschooler. So I think maybe there's a little bit where I'm judging by some of the orders because I'm at here I am talking to you, but I'm actually Quite a quite introverted in many ways. And so this business has been great because I feel like I'm communicating with like minded people, but it's like a silent communication. And I'm so every single product that I sell and I'm sitting in my little home office here I have selected myself and every single thing, it's I know it, I love it. I'm buying it. I now I'm the proud grandmother of two, my youngest my oldest son. Oh, congratulations. That's awesome. Thank you. So my new grandson was just born in June and then my, his sister is two, was two in October. Anyways so I just basically, it's if it didn't sell, it's all for them. And so everything I love and I, and. I think it's all really good, beautiful stuff. And I'm so happy that people are finding me like I'm, my budget is too low to employ. I'm a social media person, so I'm doing all that on my own and I don't know if people are finding me through Instagram, but I'm, I post every day. My kids are teaching me how to do all this stuff. So I think it's just growing incrementally and I will, truthfully, when you approach me about doing this I'm very I'm doing this because I hope more people will find

Timmy Eaton: 25:10

me and get out to more people and especially like you said to like minded families and and and to people who are likely to, and I think that people just need to go and look and see, and this is a great way to do that because those that listen to this will, will most likely go and check what you have. And see how that matches their families. I love how, I love the passion behind what you're doing and that it's actually from the heart. And I think that's why you will Katharine just be successful because it's coming from things that you genuinely see as beautiful. And I love that you had your grandchildren and children in mind and you go, even if nobody buys it's for them. And so to me, that, that be speaks the quality of the things that you're doing.

Katharine Gordon: 25:46

Well, a lot of the books I'm. I'm sourcing out old classics that I read to my children. I don't make much money on the books, but I think it's so important that these books, and so many of them are being republished, which I'm so excited about. One thing that I'm, my next little sort of collection is actually used. Books, because if they're not being republished, they're still so valuable to bring to children. And so that's my next sort of idea is that I might have to source used books that are in good condition just to get them into children today because beautiful, a beautiful book, a beautiful story. is a beautiful thing forever. But yeah, so if homeschooling families want to go have a look and as I say, if there's anything people want that I don't carry I can get anything through Mercurius, which is probably and also I would think a good source for homeschooling families. I don't think they sell, I'm pretty sure they don't sell individually. So you'd have to go through.

Timmy Eaton: 26:54

And for those of us in Canada, it'd probably be best to go through you anyway, and so that's great. We'll talk a little bit more about some products, like what is it that somebody can expect to find and give us a good range of the things that they would find on your website.

Katharine Gordon: 27:05

Yeah. I'm assuming homeschooling family focus here. So I, I've mentioned Mercurius a number of times that they are the Canadian distributor. They're up in Thunder Bay, Ontario. So the products come from Europe and they distribute them to shops like mine and the Waldorf schools across Canada. And the products are just, Transcribed all the art, any art product you can think of. So watercolor, the beeswax crayons they. I still have my kids in grade one in a Waldorf school, you get a 12 beeswax block crayons and they literally last a lifetime. They last multiple or child, what do I call it? Like childhoods, stages

Timmy Eaton: 27:50

and seasons.

Katharine Gordon: 27:51

Yeah, so they, they're a very, they're there. Because they're a little bit costly. There's no question about it. But a Crayola crayon will, and you'll have to throw it out. A Stockmar beeswax crayon, you literally will pass on your six children could have used one, one set of stock. So all the, any art supply you can even, I think when I say that you can imagine, I think that's true. There might be a few like caustic art. Supplies or something that I'm not terribly familiar with, but I think certainly through an elementary school career. So the first, through kindergarten and through the first 6 to 8 years, I believe I could source any material you would want. And then the main lesson books, which. Obviously a homeschooling family can, they could just buy a stack of paper and do anything they want, but these books are bound already. And they come in a variety of sizes and those seem to be. The big sellers.

Timmy Eaton: 28:57

Well, one thing I just want to interject on that a little bit, like one thing that I feel like my wife has discovered over the years, we've been doing this for 16 plus years, around 16 years. And it's, it is true. Like you said, you can get a stack of paper and that'll serve your functional need, but there is something, especially if you're talking about those little, those customized booklets to the kids, that When there is a high quality product, it changes the experience. And so I just I have learned that through my wife and through what she has exposed our kids to and their commonplace journals, for example, and commonplacing is basically, you can put any subject in there. And it's and you're getting information from all over the place and recording things and it becomes yours, what you were describing. But I find that when you do have quality like supplies and quality books, it just enhances the learning because you're excited about it. And so I appreciate you saying that. And that, and so that's why I would encourage people to check out what you have, because when you have quality it inspires learning and it inspires that the the love of learning. I think

Katharine Gordon: 29:55

too it, and it's. Not just inspires, but you need to take care, you need to be careful with it and it isn't disposable. And I do believe that's a very valuable lesson. The earlier you can teach that. The better in the long run for any child. So I think there's a very strong element of that. And you quite often and you actually use less. So it's let's say the watercolor paints there. They are expensive, but you hardly need. And again, it just lasts a very long,

Timmy Eaton: 30:31

long, no grunt by, by a nice pair of jeans. Last long time, get the stuff that just falls apart. You're buying it all the time. Anyway, it's actually more cost effective. So I, amen to what you're saying. So carry on. You were talking about. Art supplies and I love that you've said that you can work with people that kind of customize what they need and see what you can, at least reach out to you and see what you can get ahold of. Notebooks. What else? What else are have you noticed are like the go tos for a lot of these families?

Katharine Gordon: 30:56

Again, the Waldorf focus has been pretty focused and so I do find that I, there are other like minded people who are aware of whether they're storybooks or, I'm trying to, I'm trying to get educational, I call them educational books like I guess resource books. So I do try to stock a lot of those that would be a good book to have in your home library. Again, those are just things that I look for and that I look to find to have them on my shelf so that people can buy them because I feel that they're valuable. they're valuable. But there's also a number of authors that people definitely look for that are not mainstream. And so I do try to carry those again. I'm somewhat limited. I'm pretty small, but I'm growing. I could list them off. But I do find people are finding me because of certain titles and certain authors that I carry. So that's exciting. I have tons of, games, maybe that homeschooling families Aren't looking for as much, but again they're a high quality lot of wood very, I won't say no plastic, but I can't even think of, I think I could almost say no plastic as I look around. Yeah. Okay. Oh crafting kits. That's fun too.

Timmy Eaton: 32:28

And I think anyone who has listened thus far to this episode will go, okay, I'm interested in these things and they'll discover that, they're going to go find, All those other things. And just so that this audience knows also, Katharine also has a, tell them the name of your your organic dog biscuit site.

Katharine Gordon: 32:44

Yeah. So that's just a little I bought, we bought a great Pyrenees Almost 10 years ago who sadly did die a year and a half ago. But her presence lives on and she came with a recipe full of probiotics and prebiotics and the old couple that Glenn and I are great Pyrenees. That supplied this recipe. They'd been breeding dogs for. I don't even know, 30 years, and they were devoted to their dogs and the health of their dogs. So I started making these biscuits with this recipe from this family, and I've so Sadie's Biscotti's. A or dog at home. Dot C a might be easier to find. But they're literally, they're all human grade. I use local organic ingredients. So here on Prince Edward Island. So kale, blueberries, cranberries, the oats the right. Yeah, the rice is grown in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, but They're good. You can eat them. They're just they're no, there's no sugar in them. So they're tasteless human biscuits, but they're good for you. Anyway, so that's just a little aside. I probably won't keep the website up there because I'm now selling, I've been here in Prince Edward Island for a year and a half. So I'm now selling at the local organic health food store is carrying my biscuits. So that's no, it's good for people. They're guaranteed. Your dogs will love them. Guaranteed. Okay.

Timmy Eaton: 34:03

That's awesome. That's awesome. I wanted to ask you a couple of things as we wrap up. I just wanted to ask you a couple of things and then obviously say again where we can find your stuff and connect with you. But I'm just thinking of what you said earlier about your your you have two grandchildren, correct? Yes. And I think it was the thought came to me to just ask you a little bit about them in in closing and if you were to just think about the future you want for your grandkids. And I'm not saying that you dictate that, but I'm just saying that you want as a grandmother and if somebody asked you, Katharine, Hey, what do you want? For the education and lifestyle of your grandkids. What is it that matters to you? What comes to mind when you think of what you want as the result of their education and living in the most ideal way according to.

Katharine Gordon: 34:46

Okay that's a huge question, Tim. I quite a little short answer is they both are starting at the local Waldorf school. There's Waldorf, the original Waldorf philosophy, educational philosophy was the best place for children up to the age of seven was home. And more importantly, not just home, but a single focused caregiver, which obviously tended to be mother, of course. So now with our, lifestyle, most working parents, including the, my son and his lovely wife, the mother of these two grandchildren um, both work. And that's a reality now. And kids need to start, if Both parents work outside the home. They both, they do need to go to a care program of some sort. And so Waldorf schools worldwide have risen to the, this new occasion and they now offer care programs. Anyway, both my two grandchildren are starting at their local Waldorf school. And so I'm of course, very excited about that. And my new daughter in law. Who was raised somewhat similarly, so it wasn't a huge stretch for her to embrace all this, but my son has just brought all this to his family and I think more important than education is actually food and what you eat and I guess I can't and so it's really important that we do not take an opportunity to say please, please, please don't buy animal products unless you know where they come from, and that animals were raised humanely, and that is so important to us in our family, and we're all meat eaters, but when the kids were little, we raised all our own meat, and obviously not everybody can do that, and I appreciate that, but there are farmers that do that, and you can make an effort to find that, so actually that's very important to me that that my children and my grandchildren all eat good food and support your local farmers. And it's all tied in, like it's all tied in to, good food, good products, support your community eliminate transport if you can, as much as possible and eliminate single use plastics. Oh my God, Tim, you're opening a huge can

Timmy Eaton: 37:08

of weeds here. I wanted to hear what you wanted for your grandkids. I love what you're saying. No,

Katharine Gordon: 37:13

and I just, and it's all happening. I can't, I just, I can't believe it. Like I can't believe That the values that are so important to me are important to my children. And I'm very grateful. I'm very grateful for that. And I'm very grateful to them. And that's

Timmy Eaton: 37:29

awesome. I appreciate that. It is funny that it is funny. And I think, and I don't think this is like universal, but I think it is common. You keep using the term like minded. And I think that is really accurate to a lot of these people that are drawn to a homeschool kind of unschool Waldorf, whatever, a non traditional unconventional way of pursuing learning and lifestyle. And I love what you're saying about food. And I grew up in suburbs of Chicago and very mainstream city boy, very conventional in the box. And through my wife's inspiration and her kind of always asking questions. A lot of the things you're saying is how we've lived our lives. This I don't, until we grew our own meat chickens, butchered them and ate them. I've never had such good chicken. Like, I mean, It was, it is a different experience and that's just one example, but and not, and like you said, not everybody can do that depending on where they live in their context and their circumstances, but the idea that it's just just asking questions about what are we taking into our bodies and what are we. And how are we learning things and how are we preparing our children? And I love what you're saying. I think it's just good. And people don't even have to agree with it, but maybe the principle is when you're passionate about something, be true to the principles that you espouse and that your priorities and odds are they're going to be passed on to your your posterity like it's happened with you, your son and your grandchildren. And your daughter in law fits into that. And so that's awesome. That's great. I'll give you the last word, anything you want to say, and then definitely tell us where we can find your products and connect with Katharine Gordon. Okay.

Katharine Gordon: 39:03

Thanks again for this opportunity, Tim. So the, I'm only online right now. The dream of a bricks and mortar is long term coming. So gnomes. And acorns. ca or. com, but. ca is the number one. And Tim, I don't know if you provide a link.

Timmy Eaton: 39:22

Oh, yes. It's all we're all in the show notes. I'll put all this stuff.

Katharine Gordon: 39:25

Yeah. And right now, I do a turnaround within a day or two ship to Alberta takes about a week. I have a flat rate shipping and would love to continue to grow this business. I, Tim, you've been very kind in allowing me to talk about how great I think these products are. And I guess if I can help a homeschooling family with finding a source of products that they need for their curriculum, that would be

Timmy Eaton: 39:58

great. Excellent. Thank you so much. And one thing I would just say is, just because my wife has gotten your products and I think maybe probably the best Marketing that people can have is word of mouth by people who have experienced it. And so those living testimonials of products, it kind of spreads. And so we, we encourage people to go take a look and products will speak for themselves. So that's awesome. It's it's great to have you on here and I appreciate you taking time. So thank you, Katharine, for being with us.

Katharine Gordon: 40:21

Thank you very much and continued on your homeschooling journey. Good luck with that. Thank

Timmy Eaton: 40:26

you so much. I appreciate it. Bye bye. That wraps up another edition of This Golden Hour podcast. If you haven't done so already, I would totally appreciate it if you would take a minute and give us a review in Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps out a lot. And if you've done that already, thank you much. Please consider sharing this show with friends and family members that you think would get something out of it. And thank you for listening and for your support. I'm your host, Tim Eaton. Until next time, remember to cherish this golden hour with your children and family.