Quinfold, Yamhill, OR (2026)

07/30/2019

BREAKING GROUND — literally. We took this family photo for the last time in this spot a couple days ago. Right now the ground is excavated and the foundation being prepared!

We’ve been married for 20 years this year and have always been entrepreneurs, just worked and worked together. And made things work, you know? We didn’t grow up rich or have a single thing handed to us. Not a dollar. We’re art school drop outs if that tells you anything! But we’re at that moment in life where I feel everything is being handed to us. Its all miraculously coming together, it’s kismet! Which is humbling and feels overwhelmingly wonderful after making so many mistakes and yanked down so many bunny trails. In the midst of working so hard sometimes it’s easy to forget that some day it might all actually .... come together.

It’s scary to go so far out on a limb. It’s scary to believe in what you’re doing sooooo deeply that you’d put all your eggs in 1 basket. It’s scary to believe in it so much that you’re even willing to fail or have things not work out.

So if you’re slugging away and it’s hard. Good. Keep at it. It IS hard and you really shouldn’t want it any easier. That’s where a meaningful life lives. Don’t be triggered by s**t or settle low. Quit bantering & complaining. Just keep pushing on because, if it’s worth it, it’s worth it.

I can only say this is the beginning of a new season, praise God. Lots of hard work, lots of dirt ahead in various forms, which is my type of a meaningful life.

07/09/2019

11 FLAVORS OF HOMEMADE ICE CREAM! — My middle son turned 11 recently. It’s fun to do things as wildly and as impractically as possible, all out & over the top. This year Owen dreamed it out that he wanted to MAKE 11 flavors of homemade ice cream plus! various homemade toppings AND homemade waffles cones. — WOW, count me in, because you know what? That doesn’t even come close to celebrating how amazing this child (each child, every child) is and the pleasure of being his mama.

We sat down in early June and planned out 11 flavors & such together. He’s a natural born list maker and I admire that. Owen made most of the ice cream himself over the course of June because isn’t that just what you do when you’re excited and almost 11? He’s a pro. I also got to add yet another impractical item to the shelf that we’ll get looooads of use out of, a waffle cone maker. — It smelled like the boardwalk as I rolled the hot cones and reminded me of going to Seaside with my mom when I was 11. What’s better than a scented memory!

And I’ll ask my children often, how can I make your wildest dreams come true? And I actually mean it. I’ll do the wild stuff because I want my children to experience the true joys and pleasures and richness of this life together — of being free and impractical and limitless and silly. I learned from my grandma that if you’re enjoying something it might just dribble on your shirt —clearly the truth of living out our wildest dreams and enjoying 11 flavors of ice cream. And that’s what I want my children to grow up on.

06/27/2019

It was my 39th birthday a few weeks ago and my boys made me the most perfect decorations — especially if you know me. They snagged some linen string from my stash and handfuls of oak leaves off the trees and made the most beautiful garland. It was pure magic and I left it up for a whole week, even though we had to duck under it in the tiny house.

When I was little we always spent my birthday at my grandparent’s house. Grandma made sure to have an ice cream cake from the little bakery in Black Diamond, WA ready for our visit. When I was older my ma would make me a special birthday dessert — lemon meringue anything, my favorite. Lemon meringue pie or layered cake or whatever special idea I had in mind. My mother has always been an incredible baker.

I think as we drift into being adults and in particular, mothers, we tend to not know how to celebrate our birthdays as the traditions of our childhood don’t always translate. Add in all the elements of expectations and secret disappointment maybe? It can be a sticky day.

Many years ago when my boys were itty bitty I had the idea of celebrating my birthday filled with intentional joy. Mama’s birthday = FUN. Nobody has to perform or impress me or nothing. And it goes like this — every year we visit a nearby peony farm (forever grateful my birthday is wedged in peony season!), tour the gardens, touch all the flowers and end with a giant bouquet of blooms and a couple potted peony plants. I now have about a dozen and a half peony plants & every single one reminds me of my children as I turn a year older. We make a lemon meringue cake together with loads of lemon curd and enjoy it before the day is over. 2 simple things, that’s it. The perfect day. My husband & children add in the rest (gifts, usually more plants) and decorations as they think of it. It’s the loveliest day ever and there’s such comfort in my birthday — my children intimately know me, know my heart and know they bring me incredible joy.

06/24/2019

Celebrating the first of summer, ☀️ together, on the deck as the evening cools off, with a round of homemade snow cones. I’m not quite sure how it happened, or when. I think the best tradition just sort of secretly sneak in, you know? Nobody can quite remember when we didn’t have snow cones to celebrate the first weekend of summer.

Thankfully, there is no way to get around homemade syrups — syrups of sorts because really just whatever summer fruit you have on hand (strawberries this time) smashed & sweetened with honey or lightly diluted & infused honey itself or even juice will do in a pinch (like this one in Julius fashion, orange with vanilla & cream). — I’ve had the snow cone maker for over 9 years and if you have a chance, pick one up! It’s frivolous & not for those with a practical mind, but your children will forever thank you, it’s absolutely thrilling to push the top and have shaved ice victoriously shoot out the front .. @ Yamhill, Oregon

06/20/2019

Ma, do you have a jar?
Quick! I need a jar.
We just caught a ______! A jar! MOM!

I’m not sure it’s truly summer unless something ends up in a jar. Strawberry jam and dandelion blossoms soaking in oil, and def some sort of berry shrub ready to be shaken cold. Also? Caterpillars on grassy pillows and gatherings of crickets and maybe even just a jar full of dirt or sand or rocks or blossoms or tadpoles or ...

I like jars for children — last night’s dinner refuse is repurposed into today’s play and it’s just not fussy. I always give the jar a wash and scrub off the label (gratifying!). Children, toddlers even, clearly have more respect for glass over plastic, doesn’t plastic just always break?

And it’s free. The jar on the table is a salsa jar, the best free jar, imo. It’s somewhat short and wide enough for little hands, has a metal lid and is easy to tote around. Wack a nail into the metal lid a few times for air holes, if needed (and be sure to flip the lid over, pound flat any pokey parts).

When I find abandon jars littered about (often), I give it a shake into the forest (or a bush) to empty any old bits, a quick rinse (or not), reconcile the lid and it’s ready for the next urgent moment — quick mom! I need a jar!

And, pretty much, that’s what I’m for. A giver of jars. Vessels of curiosity. I honestly don’t think children need to be inspired into nature or taken much farther than their own plot of fresh air to dig into something great. Just ample free time outside and a repurposed salsa jar and see the magic they come up with by sunset.

06/17/2019

Following your dreams — i still hesitate a bit to say that. It feels so indulgent or selfish. I never acknowledged I had dreams because I’m not a jet setter. I don’t seek thrills or care to make a zillion $. I don’t need anybody to fan my ego or desire to wear a bikini on a faraway beach. I’ve never wanted to be a professional anything or have a career that I would have to be on time to. I love people but I’m not driven to humanitarian efforts overseas. I’ve always just loved being a wife and mother, in my heart that’s part of the dream.

Deeper, what do you really, truly want? I think that question alone actually burned us out of where we were —When we moved to our little hill 3 years ago, how to explain it? As if God shattered our windows. We had just left a church that we had been in way too long, it was suffocating & for me, the mentality I adopted was color blind, grey living. It’s taken me awhile to see that. It’s taken me a bit to experience just how beautiful & fragrant his creation is. How I’m quite literally created for this hill, this moment, these children & my husband, this very dream in our heart.

Being relentless about your dreams isn’t idealistic, it straight up work. I think how extravagant it sounded when I said that we want to keep sheep & grow tea, like it’s a luxury. Maybe. Idealistic, photo ops, romantic revelries, etc. Yeah, & a s**t ton of work. It’s all hard work. These past 3 years in particular have been grueling, & have totally kicked our butt on every level. And I feel like we haven’t even really done anything, but live. Living in a tiny house isn’t “amazing”. It’s flipping hard & I don’t recommend it unless you _take joy in living your dreams_ because they are WORTH IT — To live so softly & want things so dang easy & convenient. That is not DREAM WORK.

At least for me. I’m satisfied going to bed knowing my floors are a bit dirty & my children could probably use a bath because we’re living it. Doing it, together. We’re having FUN. We’re not on a vacation having the time of our lives, escaping ordinary. Our days are filled with meaningful, ordinary work & it’s more exhilarating & filling than any vacation.

06/13/2019

What is QUINFOLD?

QUIN / my husband’s middle name and the middle name of all four of our children. We are the Quins. My ma gave me her blessing to change my middle name to Quin. But gosh, the paperwork & hoops to alter such a thing is lengthily and I remain an honorary Quin until further notice. Quin, meaning wisdom & council, gained by experiential living.

FOLD / a fold of sheep, a flock. A gentle fold in a hill. To tenderly incorporate, mix. A community with shared belief & faith. To clasp together, folding of hands, to embrace.

Quinfold — A multidisciplinary family farm & design studio. We grow and make things that bring joy. — though, studio seems too fussy of a notion to me. More like barn or shed or working under a tree, but the point is, we’re working together. I know this is not extravagant, tight knit family work is at the center of our heritage.

We find ourselves on 20 acres in the Willamette Valley, our homeplace. I’m fairly certain it’s the most wonderful place on earth. It feels as though we’ve been in this dusty wagon heading west forever (3 years!) & have a certain relief/joy that we’re at last ready to dig deep & break ground on our farmhouse. We don’t know what the original farmhouse looked like that was here 100+ years ago, but ours will honor this place & certainly be the homestead of our dreams.

And what will we do? Our dream. Work the land & our hearts for a honest dollar. We are moving into this next season of our life free from the debts of life, with more freedom to live under our means, enjoying simple matters that are free. We will be growing tea & flowers & a smattering of grapes for wine and raisins, perhaps? We’ll be keeping sheep & making yarn & if it’s a dream, what can stop you? We dream of having air bnbs cabins & offer our “under the oaks” as an event destination. Why not? We’ll continue to create family journals & nature journals and other objects of honest living that have inspired our own family’s connection with the hill we live on and with each other in those quiet moments.

Most of all, we dream of deep relationship with our children. What else in life is there?

So that’s QUINFOLD.

06/11/2019

The GOOD NEWS! —

My husband Danny & I started fawn&forest 12 years ago. Our first child was just a year old, and gosh. We were babies too.

We didn’t start our company as formally trained business people, we actually didn’t really know what we were doing! But where we lack, we also excel. We have aptitude — a hefty measure of intuition & creativity between the two of us, relentless & wild entrepreneurs at heart. We dove headlong into fawn&forest, weathered the storms, made mistakes, refined our sensibility & reveled in the triumphs. Truly, a gift.

The internet was different back then but one thing has remained the same. From the start we had the ultimate vision of building a company fine & sturdy enough to sell. Someday. Honestly it seemed like an unimaginable goal and we never quite knew when the time would come. fawn&forest has been so much of our life — countless hours of joy & toil alongside as we’ve raised our children. How do you sell something that you’re so attached to, that you’ve created?

And then it just happened. Danny & I both knew the time was right to finally walk the tight rope to achieving our ultimate vision for our company at the start of 2019. It’s been an incredible (& eye opening) experience as we worked alongside a fantastic brokerage firm and the Lord brought us the most perfect, heaven sent buyers.

So, I’m proud to introduce Whit & Kari Weingart, the new owners of !! They’re a young couple, much like Danny & I all those years ago. Eager & determined and absolutely in love with what they’re doing. I’m thoroughly excited to pass the torch and cheer them on as they take f&f into the next era!!

And to celebrate? So much CELEBRATING! We’ve been popping corks and eating homemade waffle cakes and gathering peonies by the armful — Thank you all so much for your patronage & love for f&f all these years, and for your continued support & love for fawn&forest in the years to come.

So ... I have yet to answer the question of what the heck is QUINFOLD & following dreams & concrete utility sinks that I shared about yesterday — I’ll share more tomorrow, but for now we’re reveling in the sale of 🎉

Quinfold

07/30/2019

07/09/2019

06/27/2019

06/24/2019

06/20/2019

06/17/2019

06/13/2019

06/11/2019

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