My sweet husband works incredibly hard.  Long hours, stressful situations, on call 24-7, all part of the territory when one is in management.  Yet, he continues to support my scheming and dreaming for our family farm: Melville Farms.
Hubby Dearest is a reluctant farmer to say the least, but luckily he volunteers for a “honey-do” list of sorts. 
As summer turns to fall, days become  shorter, rain falls harder and my toddler is less willing to cooperate, I have quite the list for him:
1)Drainage: we want use of our small field in the winter, even if it’s only for poultry.  I discussed renting equipment to ease the task, but of course Mr. Do-it-himself went out there and dug a drainage ditch BY HAND.  It is well done, but a failed culvert has turned his hardwork and our access road into a lake complete with miniature waterfall.

(Faithful dog Ted testing out his new swimming hole)

(Our new water feauture: Waterfall de Melville)

2)Help winterize the coop: for some reason I feel like it’s a bad parenting decision to work on electrical with your toddler helping.. so the Hubs will be hooking up a light timer to keep those ladies laying!
3) New chicken housing- our multiple chicken tractors have served us well, but the ladies need some new digs and we are trying to improve production here on the farm by raising meat birds through the monsoon months as well as the happy-go-lucky summer months

(The Hubbity-hubs helping move one of the tractors around)

4) Contain the madness- I do not want chicken juices on my front porch as I have been there, done that, over that.  So imagine my suprise when I brought home 14 new chickens and over half of the newbies REFUSE to be contained.  The cozy coop, spacious winter run, treats and fun roosting options were not good enough for them apparently and dag nab it they flew the coop to then roam the world, coming in and out of the fenced area with ease and roosting 20 feet into the trees around the chicken house only mocking my attempts to lure them back to the rest of the flock. 
My Little Miss Q is only so helpful while I do daily chores or chase animals as she often tries to sample miscellaneous livestock poop like they are rare delicacies, attempts to jump in the impromptu lake, or break into the chicken coop and dig in their food. She is being an adventurous  kiddo, but as it can cut into my productivity I’m glad Sir Hubby Dearest is willing to help out on the farm!!!

(Q helping with her wheel barrow)

Wind was blowing rain into our living room window in loud sporadic sheets.  Sweet Little Miss Q was staring wide eyed as leaves ripped off branches and swirled away out of view.  Dense clouds turned the sun into a gray-blue twilight that lasted from dawn to late morning.  Only poultry remain on the farm as the butcher has come and our pastures recover over winter.  Though we are striving to have breeding livestock year-round, I’m not upset that I don’t have to water hogs, chase sheep, or mend fences today.  I will watch the storm and maintain caffeine levels.
Coffee is a food group on days like today.  I need the energy to continue the battle against spiders attempting to colonize my home.  Spiders of all shapes and sizes have decided that our humble abode would be the perfect place to nest.  I’ve found them in boots, blankets, beds, toilets, you name a room and I’ve likely chased a spider there.  My methods of removal vary based on my level of horror: when a choice specimen was crawling up the chest of my 15 month old I squished a quarter sized arachnid with my thumb and forefinger, when one crawled out of the towel drawer in the kitchen the weapon of choice was a cheese slicer, and when one dropped onto me in the shower I’m not sure which karate chop move did the trick but only one of us walked out alive…
The farm is a horror show in terms of spiders, webs and their ability to get in or around my hair or on my baby. I don’t mind spiders, they are important to food-webs and I am in awe of their natural ability to spin silk art.  But I pity the spider who chooses to jump from the chicken coop door onto Little Miss Q or flies through the air to land on my head… “oh was that an alder cone falling from that tree?” NOPE.
A few fun facts about spiders from Random History: 
1)There are typically 1 million spiders in 1 acre of land
2)Spiders are not only pollinators of plants but support bird and small animal diets
3)Spiders help control insect populations (which is increasingly important for years like 2015 when insect populations boom, thus negatively affecting food crops, timber production, and other environmental sectors)
4)Some of the most deadly spiders in the world include black widow and brown recluse (both of which have been found in the Pacific Northwest).

So, though I love spiders and all the work they do, I will fight the good fight to keep them out of my house and off my baby. If that includes squishing a quick little spider with the baby monitor as I write blog posts- so be it.

     
Little Miss Q watching the storm

With the changing leaves, wool socks, and brisk mornings also comes school bus traffic, increased time indoors, and muddy boots. All summer I had put off laundry, paperwork, organization and hot dinners in order to accomodate busy work schedules, farming and making memories with the family.  But with the family spending more time indoors it was time for the removal of unorganized clutter and clever placement of fall decor.
My allotted budget for decor of any kind is a big goose egg, but by using a lot of natural materials found on the farm, a Graceful Finds Boo Banner  and a shameful amount of burlap and twine I was able to decorate with beautiful rustic touches without breaking the bank.

(Spruce cones collected on the farm)

(Home – grown and home-dried hydrangeas)

(Boo Banner from Graceful Finds)

Along with our family, Frank the cat has also been spending a lot of quality time indoors.  He has been sleeping with Little Miss Q at night, gently playing with her during the day, and endearing himself to the most important person in the world (Miss Q).  Thus, when I accidentally forgot to put him outside before a morning walk and came home to a pile of kitty bowel movements in my kitchen, my hatred for the precious cat was only overcome by Miss Q’s tears that I wouldn’t let him inside.  I’m not sure if Frank hates fall, didnt like my decor, was confused by having a clean house for once, or if he was mad for another feline reason, but the intentional placement of poo was unmistakable cat anger.
Though I once again wanted to banish him from our house, sweet Q’s insistence on letting the cat inside undermined my resolve. Just another day in Melville.

Leaves fell as gusts of wind blew through the valley and carried away the lingering heat. Coastal dew dampened the grass before dawn as the first hint of Autumn awoke with the morning. The clouds hung low and the coyotes yipped their confidence in the shadows of dense tree cover.
Our idiot sheep showed no signs of fear as they pranced around in the cool marine breeze that smelled of fresh rain and salt. The laying flock even more brazen as they crossed property boundaries to investigate new pasture.  I served a breakfast of baked apples and eggs that were both collected the day before and poured Sweet Little Miss Q a cup of milk whilst dreaming about the pros and cons of owning a dairy animal.
This beautiful morning I glared outside at our meat birds that were eating us out of house and home.  Earlier this summer our first round of market chickens were processed by a licensed facility in the Willamette Valley.  It was the first time we have ever hired out the processing and were uncertain of the total costs when we originally quoted price per pound to our customers. The finished product was absolutely beautiful- vacuum packed, perfectly plucked, stunning whole chickens that we could legally sell to private consumers, restaurants or stores. Only problem: the finished product resulted in zero profit.

       {Good looking processed bird}

We had lost money and Hubby Dearest was less than thrilled. Indignant at the high costs of certified non-GMO whole grain feed, the processing fees for that perfectly plucked poultry, and my insistence that this was a good idea, he demanded a return of our investment. I have promised that next round of pastured poultry will be better, with the baseline goal of not losing money. Easier said than done.
Just the other day I made a trip over the Coast Range to the whole grain mill where we buy our GMO – free feed. About 200 miles later I was home with a mom – car full of feed bags, excited to eat lunch before I unloaded. However, a few minutes for lunch turned into a few days of procrastination and as Hubby Dearest opened the back of the car to open a bag he saw the feed tag that I hadn’t bothered to check: senior horse.  Going through each bag we saw a number of senior horse and other labels, none of which were the poultry grower that we needed and were for animals we don’t even have.  For some reason the hubs was was less than thrilled as he re-loaded 50 lb bags of senior horse pellets. His temper grew and I saw our potential “profit” margin dwindling as I planned to return the bags and get the chicken feed I required. I stuck my foot in my mouth when I mentioned that throwing those bags around was at least a great work out…and for some reason Hubby Dearest didn’t quite see it that way.
So as summer draws to an end and our second round of meat birds mature into the full rounded figures of succulent chickens, I hope we have a few buyers! In the meantime I will harvest the abundant fruits and veggies in the family garden, sell off the remaining  shares of our larger livestock and hope that Hubby Dearest sees the intrinsic value of raising quality meats and eggs for our family and community.

            {Waiting for breakfast}

Summer is here.  Kids are out of school, sunshine streams through fluffy white clouds and causes the morning dew to rise off the county road in tendrils of steam, and Sweet Baby Q refuses to sleep.  I feel as though sometimes I loose perspective on how precious each moment is when I go through my day in a sleep deprived trance, but as I look back on the past fortnight I realise how special it has been.  The last few weeks have been filled with firsts:
First round of meat chickens have been harvested using a licensed facility(instead of getting up to our elbows in chicken feathers).
First time I got my daily cardio by chasing sheep with a jogging stroller.
First time opening a business bank account for Melville Farms.
First time I’ve chased a banker throughout the lobby to entertain my small child while opening said bank account. 
Q started crawling for the first time! Hubby Dearest suprised me with new speckled Sussex chicks (first time he brought new animals home instead of the other way around).
Completed my first official 5k race
First time I’ve cried as I reflected how Q is almost 1 year old- though I’m sure it won’t be the last
First time I ate an entire sleeve of Oreos… two sleeves of Oreos… ok  truth it was 7 sleeves of Oreos over the past few days..
And last but certainly not least we celebrated our first father’s day with our sweet baby. The sun warmed the cheeks of our little princess as I basked in the love my darling Hubby has for Sweet Baby Q.
So as I reflect over the most recent stretch of baby-induced-haze I have never felt so blessed that our life is filled with so many precious, exciting, and special moments.

I had to take a breather from chasing the liberated sheep..

..sheep thought it was a good time to socialize with the meat birds..

..after the ruminant returned to the correct side of the fence Q celebrated with a two handed wave!