Welcome to Pocket Pause!
Miranda and Andy Rommel, with Pocket the Corgi homestead and create art on Birdsong Farm in western Oregon. This website and blog are a place for us to share, educate, entertain and learn. It is our mission to live as sustainably as possible, to care for our hunk of earth and the livestock we raise as humanely and joyfully as possible and to feed our community nutritious food. Please feel free to comment on my posts with any tips, questions, praises or criticisms or contact me directly. We look forward to learning and sharing with you!
Pocket Pause the website is also the hub of my business, Fiber Friends and of Birdsong Farm plus some great resources for gardeners, farmers and recipes for cooks local and across the globe. Check back often for up to date info and available products!
Miranda: “I’m always happy to offer my advice, but I’ll never take myself too seriously!”
By trade and passion, I am a children’s book illustrator, felter and fine artist. By passion and frugality, I am an avid gardener and newbie farmer. I started blogging “An Austin Homestead” when i kept an urban homestead in Austin, TX with vegetable and herb gardens in my front yard, and a compost heap and some friendly chickens in the backyard. I’m now living with my husband and the namesake of this website: Pocket the Pembroke Welsh Corgi, just south of Pedee, Oregon on 17.5 acres of potential. We bought our “farm” in December of 2012 and immediately began writing to-do lists on how to convert a dilapidated 3 thousand square foot home, leaky barn, and scotch broom infested pasture into a productive and self sustainable homestead.
I love cooking delicious, usually healthy things utilizing as many homegrown (or farm direct) ingredients as I can, and when I’m not filling the kitchen with tantalizing dinner smells I fill it with delightful aromas of freshly made soap. I write recipes, when I remember to. I love teaching people how to live frugally and in sync with the planet and seasons. I’m excited to continue learning age old skills like spinning yarn and using herbs as medicine. I’m a crazy entrepreneur at heart and am happy with the growing success of my small business, Fiber Friends and excited to be selling our pastured eggs, duck meat, domestic rabbit and other niche farm products.
Andy: Moving water and dirt around since 2011
Working a full time job “off farm” Andy sees less daylight on Birdsong Farm than his wife, but takes as much joy from the land and animals as she does. From hauling water to the ducks, to working on the vintage tractor, to moving heavy loads of dirt from one side of the farm to the other, by hand – Andy does what needs to be done to keep the dream alive. We love him for it, even though he barely has time to create his beautiful art. Visit his portfolio page to see some of the amazing creations he brings to life out of the discarded wood and other objects from the farm and local landscape.
Thanks so much for reading Pocket Pause. I hope you’ll join the ride with me and mine as we get our hands dirty in the Oregon coastal foothills.
Regards,
Miranda, Andy & Pocket
What a wonderful life you have. We used to live on a small farm in Molalla, Oregon but when DH retired we moved to Lapine, Or for financial reasons. We have had our 2 corgigirls for 9 years, they are litter mates. They are the most wonderful girls in the world, spoiled, yes, but so full of love. Luci is a red head and Nikki is a tri. If we could afford it we would adopt dozens more. I miss Molalla and our chickens and goats and the ability to grow fruits and veggies but I love the quiet and of course the snow.
I just found you via the Blog Paws Wednesday link-up. Love your site and your photos, and then I see you just moved from Austin, Texas to Oregon (I’m so jealous – was in Oregon last October), and also see you sell on Etsy like I do! I will definitely keep up with your farming adventures.
Hi Miranda and Pocket, I found your website through pinterest when I was looking for a roasted vegetables recipe. I was thrilled to see a corgi on your website since we have two corgi girls (Miss Bucks and Miss Lizzie). We live in Centralia, Washington and I work at the mall office at the Centralia Outlets. Stop in and say hi if you’re ever in the neighborhood. Melanie
I am looking for a Corgi puppy to buy. We lost our beloved dog a week ago and would like to find a female puppy to become part of our family. My friend thought you might be able to help me find a breeder that could help us.
Hi Miranda,
Within the next year my boyfriend and I will be starting our own homestead. So I am voraciously studying everything, lol. I have already decide the breeds of chickens I want to raise. I also intend to make homemade soaps. I had been told that the odor of the lye is horrible and if possible to do that part in an outside area. Do you do yours inside? If so what about the smells?
Sincerely,
Debbie
Hi, Debbie – The smell of lye isn’t so my ‘bad’ as dangerous and caustic. I usually make soap at the kitchen sink with the window cracked. I wear a dust mask/respirator. It majorly helps with the smell… not so much the smell as the ‘ability to breathe.’ The fumes are quite dangerous. I mix my lye in a metal pot/pan, stir, as soon as the temp stops goign up (begins to drop a smidge) i lower it into an ice bath in the sink and keep stirring. It cools down MUCH more quickly that if you use a glass measuring cup.
Hello, I was looking at your lemon basil soap recipe from your previous blog and posted a question, but I’m not sure if you can see it. I wanted to ask you if you ever tried to make another batch of lemon basil soap. Did you change the recipe. I would like to use my dried garden basil and lemongrass oil to make soap. I would use a soap base, though. Do you think it will make a nice, fragrant soap?
Just found your website. I am looking forward to exploring it. (I think I started with the farmer’s cheese) I live in Medford OR but had never heard of Pedee so I had to look it up. You live about the same distance from us as our daughter, she is in Sweethome. It is beautiful up there and I hope someday we can find a little acerage somewhere near.
Have a great day!