“Do you have a house in both places?”, “What about school for your children?”

Initially, when we first began migrating, we only moved a camper to Florida and toted our 2 (then) children in the back seat of our pickup everywhere we went. Eventually, we had more children and the Lord opened doors for us to purchase a five-acre parcel and a double wide mobile home. As the business grew and the housing market boomed in Florida, we purchased a larger piece of farmland where we were able to have a larger mobile home and a small building. As time went, we had the opportunity for our married children and employees to build homes of their own right on the farm.

In Wisconsin, likewise, we began with a rental property and then purchased land with a building on it. However, in Wisconsin it took a tragedy for us to get to the home and building we have today. In 1998 we had a small apartment built into our building and were very happy with this arrangement. Unfortunately, the entire building and apartment were consumed in a massive fire! By God’s grace we were able to rebuild the building and, thanks to insurance, also put up a house on the property. A true trial by fire! But God was and is faithful. So, the long answer to a short question is, yes- we have homes in both places.

Our Children have been home schooled from the start. We have seven children altogether and the Werner Home School has graduated five students. We are still schooling Esther and Micah at home. Migrating has made it necessary for us to develop strong convictions about family and schooling for our children… going to a conventional school is not an option when you don’t live in one place all year! It has ‘forced’ our family to be together ALL the time. Work, School, and Play all together pretty much all the time. It has made us into a close-knit family. The older children have learned a lot by having to answer the phone in a business-like manner and to answer customer concerns, not to mention juggling schoolwork and bee work year round. This develops a certain type of work ethic not received or required in many school settings.

It hasn’t always been easy! But it’s good for our family. The oldest children have made excellent life choices. All have included bees, beekeeping and The Lord in their lives.