Enjoying Fall

What a nice long fall we have had - and the colors are so beautiful.  Every time I go for a walk, I have to stop for a moment and just enjoy the beauty of this season - my favorite time of year.

The puppies are growing so fast.  They are chubby little guys! :)  They remind me of little pigs. :) lol  Princess is such a great mom.  She is so very gentle.  I don't know how she climbs in and out of the whelping box without smothering or stepping on anyone.  The pups will be 4 weeks old this Sunday and will likely be out of the whelping box soon.  They are so much fun!

Here are a few fall pictures from the farm. :)

Harvesting pumpkins

Big Tom

Jackson watching over the boys (they were digging potatoes) while enjoying the shade from the apple trees

Puppies Have Arrived!!

As you can see by the lack of recent posts, we have done more farming than blogging this summer!  But we have really enjoyed  a much slower pace this summer.  Since we are no longer doing the farmer's market here at our farm, we have had to relearn how to grow food for just ourselves.  Needless to say, we gave some produce away. :) 

As much as we enjoyed having the farmer's market here every Friday, we are confident that the decision to move on to other things was the right decision for our family.  Selling produce is a lot of work.  And when Mike was elected for county commissioner, we knew we had to cut back on something.  We are still raising pastured chickens and turkeys though.

Since it has always been our goal to have a family business, we decided to start raising Great Pyrenees dogs.  We are now entering our second year of breeding dogs.  For us, it is more rewarding than growing produce and much less labor intensive. Like our other business, it is something our whole family can do together, and the children love it!  Emily even gave up her bunny business so she could put all her efforts into the dog business.  If you email us about a dog, you will most likely get a response from Em.  She is great at marketing our dogs and interacting with customers.  Ben and Jonny help a ton behind the scenes.  They both help with grooming the dogs and spend time interacting with them.  There are dishes to scrub, pens to clean, and dogs to bathe - plenty of work to go around. :)  Emily prepares breakfast for all the dogs in the morning.  Then they all work together feeding the dogs.  Our dogs diets change based on the season they are in - pregnant, nursing, or breeding, so not all the dogs are eating the same foods or the same amounts.  It sounds complicated, but we've got a good system down.

So the good news....drum roll please....Princess just had her second litter!   Princess went into labor last Sunday afternoon.  The first puppy was born at around 1pm and the last puppy was born around 9:30 pm - twelve puppies!  She did an awesome job - just like last time, with no complications.  She is a great mom!  They are all fat and happy.  If you are interested in a puppy, you can view them via our puppy cam.  It is on 24 hours a day!  Just email us for the link.

Here are a few pictures that Mike took today (puppies are one week old). More pictures to come soon on Housman Farm Pyrs.