failure – The Smith Farmhouse

Project Runway

There has been a lot happening on the farm the last couple of months even though I was remiss to share the progress we have been making on this blog. I apologize for seemingly falling off the planet, but I assure you all is well and thriving here at the busy Smith Farmhouse.

It was sometime in March that we attended a one day extension course from WSU on growing your small hobby farm to a small business. There were great ideas presented on using the resources on your land, including making maple syrup from our broadleaf Maple trees that we have growing here in the PNW. We were actually successful at our first attempt at making syrup but I will have to share that story with you in a later post. The most important point I took home that day was the location of our well head in relation to our animal pens.

100 feet is the distance that your livestock should be kept from your well, mine were well, much closer. Can I just be honest and say that they were pretty much on top of it? We actually built our initial pens connected to our well house. This is what happens when you get keys to your new house the same weekend you get a small herd of goats and convenience completely clouds out your common sense. Sitting there in a small classroom setting all I could think of was how we were going to get everyone moved as quickly as possible. This was an especially difficult task with baby animals being born, hatched and brought home at a rate even I was getting overwhelmed by.

We hatched a plan, which I have dubbed “Project Runway“. We may not have used scissors and thread but there was an abundance of material needed to “Make it Work“. We gathered all of our pallets, not the color palettes mind you but wood pallets that every good farmyard has hidden somewhere and started constructing ducks houses and chicken coops. DSCN2455

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We decided to build at the base of the hill next to our goat pasture so we could create a “runway” strip of free range pasture for our flocks, hence the title of our project. Along with the whole actual farming thing you have to manage the social media aspect and find creative ways to attract attention, so there it is…. my attempt at it anyways. So, we decided on erecting three 12′ x 36′ pens with an access gate between the 2nd and 3rd pen. In each pen we included a 6′ x 3′ house and an an additional 3’x 4′ house in the middle pen.

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For fencing, the decision was made to use 2″ x 4″ welded wire instead of poultry wire. The cost was almost the same and it gives us more flexibility to use the pens for other livestock in the future and a greater strength for protection. It was not an easy task to roll out wire on a slope, thats all I am going to say about that because there were enough words shared during the process. We did our best to keep the lines straight and level but all in all it has character, that is the nicest way I can say we did our best and we are happy with the outcome. I would apologize to all the perfectionists and professionals but hey, they don’t have to live in it so I won’t. I am more than happy with how it turned out and it gets the job done so if you are one of those who get a little dizzy with lines that aren’t level just squint or look away and you will be just fine.The project was a success because we stayed in budget and nobody got hurt, and most importantly the ducks and the chickens seem to really enjoy their new enclosures. They now have trees and bushes to hide under for protection from predatory birds and relief from the summer heat. One of the bonuses of the completion of this project is that Farmdog now has access all the way to the goat barn and can enlarge his area of patrol. He especially enjoys chasing away the birds who try to steal feed and the occasional egg laying on the ground.

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We may have intended to attempt this project at a later date but I am glad we were forced to do it this spring. It is going to make such a huge difference to our farm and help move us closer to becoming the self-sufficient farm business we want to be. This will mean many more projects ahead, maybe not quite as big as this one but who knows… they might even be bigger! We may face difficulties from the mistakes we make along the way, but if we learn from them and move forward, we are stronger and wiser for the experience. So, don’t be afraid to make mistakes, because not even trying is the biggest failure of all.

(At some later point I will write about another big project we completed… Chicken Tractors! You can get a little glimpse of them behind our very happy ducks enjoying their new home.)

High Hopes

Smith Farmhouse Characters, Uncategorized

First of all…. How has it been two months since I have written a blog post? I literally gasped when I saw that my last post was June 25th. I remember that day clearly, I was so excited that I had finally figured out how to upload my children’s book and with sincere expectation believed that it would be a couple short weeks before I would get my proof in the mail and approve it for print. Oh, I have always been the optimist but my estimate of two weeks would actually be more like two months.

I didn’t take in to consideration that I would make mistakes, I learned that we are often blind to our own errors. I ended up going through the process four more times before getting it right. It has been a good thing for me in so many ways, I am learning to take things in stride and embrace the realization that taking the time to do things well is important. As much as I wanted to get my book finished by a certain date, I wanted it to be done excellent, even more. So, I learned to swallow my pride and embrace my mistakes as an opportunity to grow and move forward.

I also didn’t factor in just how exciting, emotional and exhausting July and August would be. Farm life has been so full of new births, building projects, blackberry bush removal and visitors. We started farm to table dinners and finished the second phase of our goat barn. Amid all the gains we have had loss too, we lost our first baby goat in August. The little doeling had a cleft pallette. It was heartbreaking. Even though we have her sister Millie, I often think of her tiny twin that slept in my lap and died in my arms. Even in sadness there is so much to be gained. Love and loss often come hand in hand, I am learning not to allow grief to keep me from moving forward and embracing the love and joy in front of me. Somedays that means bringing home free kittens when you have tears streaming down your face and you need to smile so your heart doesn’t break. It’s ok, it really is.

I have high hopes for the future, not because I expect that everything is always going to be rosy. I am optimistic because I know that I can find value in every circumstance. I can climb higher than life’s problems and find new perspective gained from all my past experiences. I have gained so much from pushing through and finishing my book, it was so much harder than I expected and even more rewarding when I finally approved it for print.

When life is hard, or you keep making mistakes, don’t let it break you. Use these opportunities to make you stronger, better equipped and just grow with it.

P.S. My book will be available on Amazon in about 3-5 working days from today… I am so excited to share it with you all, let me know what you think of it,if you choose to purchase it!!!

All My Ducks In A Row

The Smith Farmhouse Experiment

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I recently pulled into my driveway to find my four Pekin ducks napping in a perfectly spaced out row. For a person such as myself who likes things orderly, I was first delighted and then equally dismayed. I had the realization I would definitely not get a close up without at least one duck head popping up and ruining my shot. Knowing time was of the essence, I quickly grabbed my phone (with the still shattered screen) and snapped two fast shots before the ducks became aware of my surveillance and decided to move on to their next activity.

Farmlife is amazing, so far it is all I ever dreamed it would be and more, it is also a constant battle to stay focused and organized. There is always a new problem to solve, a mess to clean and something that needs my attention. It is not much different from the days of homeschooling my three kids when they were children. I remember the feelings of inadequacy and unpreparedness I had then. They often rose up within and had the capability of sending me into a spiral of excessive activity and frenzy in an attempt to overcome the fear of failure that always seemed to be chasing after me. I admit it…I struggle with wanting to be perfect, but I know I am not. I hate making mistakes… but I have made many and I still do… a lot. I wish I could tell my younger self to relax and breathe; to not worry so much about perfection but to embrace and enjoy the process.

The lessons I have learned from my many failures, mistakes and blunders have been so valuable in my journey to get to where I am today. I no longer allow fear to restrain me, I am taking risks and pursuing the endeavors I have put off for so long. I can’t take back the time wasted in mindless worry and regret but I can look forward to what is ahead : being a grandparent for the first time, finishing my first children’s book , growing our farm and whatever other new and exciting adventure comes our way.

I may have ducklings in my bathtub, a farm dog sleeping in my bed and straw showing up in the strangest places but; I finally got all my ducks in a row.

I got the picture to prove it!