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Week in review: March 13, 2017

It was a big week on the farm last week! Our newest goat was finally born and we named him Pi. He was born on 3.14 so it was only fitting to name him Pi. We were really hoping Valentine, his mom, would have more than one baby this time but unfortunately, she had another single male kid. It is getting harder to justify keeping Valentine since she is not registered, but she is just the sweetest goat!

We are now up to 10 goats. One is for sale but I have not had any interested parties yet. Our baby chicks are growing nicely and seem happy. They are now taking up the entire brooder so they have plenty of space for all 28 of them. They have also graduated to a big water and big feeder. They are eating and drinking so much! It is quite obvious which chicks are the meat birds since they are significantly larger than the others.

Our big chickens had a big weekend since two of them decided to fly over the fence and not come back for bedtime. We actually thought we had lost one of them but she just spent the night in the woods. We couldn’t find her prior to going to bed but she was there in the morning. She must have hopped the fence sometime during the day, since we didn’t help her back over. Crazy chickens!

In non-farm news, my brother’s family is all settled into their new home in Franklin and we had lots of visitors last weekend. We are preparing for more visitors this weekend as well, it’s been a busy month!

Week in review: March 6, 2017

Our new goat sire came to Fame Flower Farm last night. We picked him up from his current farm, Fable Haven Farm yesterday after having dinner at my in-laws house. We decided to name him Sulley, from Monster’s Inc. since we are going for a Disney theme in our herd. He is almost the same age as Minnie and Bambi and we are hoping they like each other enough to create some beautiful babies in the next few months.

In other exciting additions to the farm, 30 chicks arrived last week from the hatchery that Eric has ordered from in the past. They arrived via USPS all alive and chirping. Unfortunately, we lost one but the remaining 29 chicks seem to be doing very well. And eating a ton! 15 of them are male Red Rangers that we plan to raise for meat and the remaining 15 were assorted layer breeds. 10 of those layers will go to other people once they are big enough. We have friends and a neighbor that wanted chickens but no place to brood them, so we are brooding them. We plan to keep 5 more layers because our current chickens are over a year old now. Generally, we’ve read that egg laying slows down after about two years old.

My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew have been staying with us during their transition to moving to Tennessee which has been wonderful. Emerson seems to love having them around and is getting used to the little baby. He doesn’t like it when I hold Brody, but he got over it the other day which was nice. Emerson is just running around more and more, talking, and signing up a storm. He had his 18 month appointment last week where they weighed him at 35 lbs and 35 inches. We don’t think he’s quite that tall, but it makes things look more even if he’s off the growth charts for both weight and height.

Week in review: February 20, 2017

Still no goat babies to report, but the chickens have really upped their egg production and gave us 15 eggs one day last week! And 13 eggs yesterday. Call me crazy, but I think the fishing line hawk protection is working. The automatic feeder is also working which has made caring for the chickens a once a day job. Just go collect the eggs - my favorite part!

This weekend we said goodbye to our first buck, Leo. He did a great job for us by helping create five (and hopefully more) beautiful goat kids. Unfortunately, he had to go because we have two of his daughters and we did not want any accidents to happen. Leo’s sale was our largest farm income to date. We really need to work on selling more than purchasing as our farm expenses are quite high so far.

We had another busy weekend which left limited time for farm work. However, we managed to plant our new dwarf fruit trees yesterday in dirt harvested from near the chicken coop/stables and Eric finished a few lingering tasks around the homestead. We went to a first birthday party on Saturday and met some people that live close by. Sunday Eric’s parents came over and one of Eric’s old friends came by since she was in Nashville on a weekend vacation. Emerson had fun at the birthday party and playing with his new busy box that his grandpa made for him.

Week in review: February 13, 2017

We had a wonderful week with a weekend full of visitors. Emerson and I spent Valentine’s Day together to keep him out of daycare and away from all the sweets. Eric traveled two days to Ohio then Arkansas but he returned on Friday in time to get things ready for our little party on Saturday.

Some of my coworkers and one of Eric’s coworkers came over on Saturday to hang out at the farm, see the animals, and enjoy some pulled pork smoked by Chef Eric. In total, we had about 18 people come over with families and kids, it was a blast! Everyone enjoyed feeding the goats and watching the chickens free range.

We were not able to get much done on Saturday, but on Sunday Emerson’s grandpa came over to help get some work done on the garage. He took Emerson for a tractor ride while Eric shoveled up cow poop that will soon turn into black gold in our compost pile. During naptime, Eric and his dad tried to fix the shower in the garage then finished the automatic chicken feeder. Now we should be able to go out of town without worrying about who will feed the chickens! The chicken coop has an automatic door, feeder, and a water holding tank for collecting rainwater.

Also during naptime, I transplanted the kale, mustard, and collard starts to larger pots. They are all quite spindly, unfortunately. I believe my error this time was allowing too many seedlings to grow together in the same tiny pot instead of thinning them after a couple of weeks. Every seed starting includes an excellent learning opportunity so hopefully I will know how to get these seeds started well in the near future!

The only other potential excitement we have are Valentine’s babies. She had a bit of discharge yesterday and looked a bit swollen, but no babies yet. I took a picture of her when I thought she might be in labor, but I think she still has a few days to go. And I am also not completely convinced that she is pregnant! Goat pregnancies are hard to judge.

Week in review: February 6, 2017

Last week was relatively quite on the farm. The chickens have been ramping up their egg production and gave us 9 - 10 - 9 eggs on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We still are not positive if Valentine the goat is pregnant but are hoping to have goat kids soon if she is!

This weekend we were not able to do much on Saturday since we spent the day in Franklin, TN with our friends. Sunday, Eric was able to fix the flat tire on the tractor, complete the larger male goat area fence, and do some other odds and ends. We thought the male goats would be so happy that their area was expanded to triple the size, but they didn’t care. Eric walked them the length of their new home and the went right back to the hay feeder. Goats are so motivated by food!

Yesterday I started our pepper seeds! I am so excited for our garden this year, as I’ve been the last two seasons as well. This year, we are following a YouTube guy from Maryland zone 7 (same zone as us) to give us his advice. On his advice, I used potting soil and put boiling water in it prior to planting. The boiling water is supposed to kill any potential bacteria that might hurt the seeds (such as fungus, bugs, etc.). Also, the water premoistens the soil which was convenient. I started bell peppers and jalapenos and am hoping to have seedlings in the next week or two. We are also bottom watering these seeds which apparently will help them retain moisture without being over watered. There is just so much to learn about gardening!

Emerson was playing with his grandparents while I started the seeds, but once he saw me he came over and sat down to watch. I was shocked that he did not try to knock the tray over or anything, he just watched and played with the cork I used to label the seeds. He’s so ready for gardening!

#pepperseeds #garden #nigeriangoats

Week in Review: January 30, 2017

Last week was quite eventful on the farm. We had two hens leave us for chicken heaven which prompted an almost invisible addition to the pasture. One of the chickens passed due to an unknown sickness. She was isolated and we attempted to save her but were unsuccessful.

The other hen was killed by a hawk in what appeared to be for sport as the hawk did not eat her. Eric did some research, and found that stringing fishing line across the pasture will most likely deter hawks because they can see the line. So, on Sunday, we all went out to the pasture to string fishing line between a total of five trees. The chickens did seem less scared once the line was up, but that could have been my imagination.

In other farm work, Eric set two fence posts on Saturday and started the new fence to surround the second pasture. The portion he completed on Saturday is next to the current male goat area and he plans to expand the male goat area next weekend to give them more space to roam. Goats seem to love to roam!

For the garden, our seeds that we started two weeks ago are really taking off. The kale, mustard greens, and collards are about two inches tall and some of the seedlings are starting to sprout true leaves. The leeks are doing moderately well and about half of the seeds we started have sprouted. We have our seeds under a grow light for about 10 hours a day in our mini greenhouse and we fertilized with dry, organic Miracle Gro fertilizer.

Our egg selling business has also started gaining steam. I reached out to a few coworkers a couple of weeks ago to let them know that we had eggs for sale and we now have two confirmed consistent customers and four or so occasional customers. The chickens are only laying between 5-7 eggs a day, so we can’t have too many customers! It is wonderful to receive feedback on how delicious the eggs are, though.

#farmlife #eggsales #newfence #chickenkiller

Week in review: January 16, 2017

Last week was an uneventful four day work week with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day last Monday. I was able to see my sister-in-law and nephew once more before they went home to Chicago on Wednesday for a walk around Vanderbilt’s campus. On Thursday, my brother’s family looked at a house they loved and it appears they will be moving to Franklin, TN once they can finalize the purchase.

This past weekend we had lots of outside time and Emerson loved it! Saturday morning he played outside and in the truck “helping” his dad unload square bales of hay and harvest spent hay from the yard. Eric purchased square bales to make feeding the goats on the hill easier. They go through so much hay and having it packed better will hopefully mean they won’t eat through it so fast.

Emerson’s Grandma and Grandpa came over on Saturday as well for a visit and dinner. Grandpa drove Emerson around on the tractor and he was so tired he fell asleep on the tractor in Grandpa’s lap! We made a delicious ham steak from half pig we purchased from Pike Valley Farm. Their pork is just so delicious! We are very motivated to raise pigs on our mini farm in the near future.

Sunday we spent the morning and early afternoon in Nashville with some friends from Chicago. Emerson had a great time showing off his signs and playing with ice after lunch so he was very sleepy for our drive home. While he napped I did our week’s worth of grocery shopping and realized that we need to get way better at gardening. $90 worth of veggies made me think that we should have grown a lot of that!

Although Eric basically only had Saturday to work around the homestead, he accomplished a lot! He picked up the square bales of hay, stored them in the shed, got the garbage picked pressure washer working with a lawn mower engine, cleaned the chicken coop, and harvested a lot of hay and manure for our compost piles. I helped stack the compost and put fertilizer down in the raised garden beds. We used a mixture of 4-4-1 lime, gypsum, and organic bloodmeal. That recipe came from the blogger, Justin Rhoads - hopefully it works well!

Week in review: January 9, 2017

It has been crazy weather so far this year and last week we had warmer than usual temperatures (highs up to 70) and lots of rain. None of the animals seemed to mind the warmer temperatures, thankfully. The rain made for lots of mud, though.

My brother and his family visited this weekend to begin their search for a house in the area. We house hunted with them on Saturday and stayed home on Sunday to try and get some work accomplished on the homestead. Eric’s coworker, Logan, came over and they were able to finalize clearing the perimeter for the second pasture. The next step, which will not be easy, will be putting in the t-posts for the fence. We also started cleaning the garage guest suite in preparation to finally finish that project. My brother has offered to help with some of the finishing touches so hopefully it is ready for guests in the next month or so.

Emerson was a happy boy all weekend per usual. He is having a love affair with the tractor and now that he knows the sign for “tractor” and “dad” he uses them together. It is so cute to see/hear him sign dad (he points to his head, close enough), say “da da”, then sign tractor (he holds his fists up high and does small drive motions). Thankfully his dad was able to take him out on the tractor quite a bit on Sunday. Although I had off work for MLK Day yesterday, Eric was at work so there were no tractor rides.

Week in review: January 3, 2017

It snowed this past week! And it was cold. The animals were all hunkered down due to the cold weather and Eric gave them corn (non-GMO of course) to help them stay warm. We read that eating corn helps rev their metabolism which in turn keeps them warmer. Even the male goats on the hill (Cupid, a weather, and Leo, our buck) were snuggling to keep warm it was so cold. Amazingly, the chickens have been keeping up the egg production and giving us between 5 and 9 eggs per day. We recently switched their feed to a higher quality and I think that may be the reason for the continued egg production. We now have a full time source for organic, non-GMO, corn and soy free layer feed so our chickens will only receive the best of the best!

Our weekend highlights were turning in our VW TDI vehicles and purchasing a new 2017 VW Golf SportWagen. It’s red and beautiful! I will be driving the SportWagen while Eric drives the Toyota Venza that he purchased through Carvana. Our friend Docina works for VW so he met us at the dealership in Murfreesboro with his wife, Cookie, and their girls, Maysa and Mokara. We were there entirely too long but we still had time to enjoy a hibachi meal with them at Samurai afterwards. We are so happy they moved to Middle TN so we can see them again!

Since the majority of Saturday was consumed by the car transaction, Eric was not able to accomplish as much as usual around the farm. His dad came over on Sunday to help clear more trees and at this point almost the entire perimeter is cleared and almost ready for fencing.

Emerson continues his 2017 resolution of becoming more and more adorable as the days pass. He picked up a new sign this weekend, the sign for tractor. The sign is supposed to mimic holding the steering wheel of a large vehicle, but he is just making fists and kind of shaking them. It is adorable and we know what he means. He’s trying to say more words and asking what everything is. He’s also loving books again and his current favorite is “Llama Llama Red Pajama” which also happens to be my favorite.

New Year 2017

Sadly, my attempts to begin a blog did not stick at the beginning of 2015 and I missed the opportunity to detail everything we accomplished in 2015 and 2016. My 2017 resolution is to complete weekly updates from our farm in hopes of remembering how far we have come.

This past weekend Eric’s sister Mary Beth and her family visited the Nashville area. We were able to see them at the zoo on Friday, the 30th, at Peggy and Ed’s on NYE and at our place on the 1st of January. It was fun to get the cousins together as they have a 6 month old little boy.

At this point in our farming lives, we need more pasture space. Eric has been working hard to clear a path around a second area of pasture that will leave enough space for a fence. The plan is to put a fence around another 2 or so acres and put some animals back there that will help clear the brush. So far, he has cleared almost two sides for the fence and this past weekend he worked to burn some brush and cut down more trees. We are trying to re-purpose as many items as possible and will utilize the wood from the cedar trees to make things such as furniture, boards, and greenhouse posts, to name a few.

Emerson is working on his verbal communication and has been signing quite a bit. His favorite signs right now are “more”, “please”, “drill”, and “eat”.

NYE 2015

We wanted to plan something fun for NYE 2015 since it will be our last New Year's in Chicago. Our friends, Joy and Matt, also wanted to go out so we decided on dinner and the "Just Dance" package at Howl at the Moon. We also wanted to get legally married prior to 2015 so we could file jointly on our 2014 tax returns, so the 31st was a busy day!

Eric's last day at SMS was the 30th so he was off trying to finalize a few things at home in the morning on the 31st. He had to make it to the city by 2 p.m. to be sure that we would be married before City Hall closed for 2014. I took a lunch break around 2 p.m. and Liliya came with us to be our photographer. It was a quick 10 minute walk from our office at Monroe and Canal to City Hall and Eric was able to park at a nearby parking garage. He had the dogs in the car with him, so thankfully it was not freezing cold out and it was sunny. After we arrived at City Hall we put our names on the list and waited for our turn. It was pretty crowded in the waiting area with people waiting to be married and everyone was excited! We were told it would take up to an hour before it was our turn, but 10 minutes later our names were called.

We followed the judge with a slight lisp into her chambers, gave her the rings, and she started her spiel. Liliya was snapping pictures for the whole three minute "ceremony" and we were out of there. It was surprisingly fast and easy. We took a couple of pictures in front of the City Hall sign then Eric was off to Joy's and Liliya and I were back to work.

My boss was not planning to let anyone leave early on the 31st, but my team had completed their month and year end stuff in advance so I told them to quietly sneak out whenever they wanted. December was the best month end since I started at GE Capital and I thought everyone deserved something for getting their work done early. I ended up leaving around 4 and headed to Joy's to get ready.

We went to Bites Asian for dinner with Joy and Matt. It was a sushi and Asian tapas place and the food was delicious! We ordered too much per usual but really enjoyed the meal. After dinner we went back to Joy's for a little bit to let the dogs out and take a pre-night out shot. We have not been telling people that I am pregnant since it is so early still, so Joy and Matt did not know that I am not able to drink. Eric made the shots for everyone and mine was full of water. It worked out perfectly!

We lucked out and found a cab to Howl at the Moon because it was absolutely freezing out! At the bar Eric kept ordering me club soda and lime and we just listened to music the whole night. It was a fun NYE! We stayed out later than I had hoped and did not get back to Joy's until 2 a.m.! They went to get Domino's, but I went straight to bed. It was a perfect last NYE in Chicago for Eric and I.

December 26 - 30, 2014

It was another whirlwind few days for us on this crazy adventure. Friday, the 26th, I had three interviews with Cat Financial, one on the phone and two through video conference. All three interviews went well and I really enjoyed meeting everyone that works for Cat. They seemed really excited to get a person in the mining portfolio manager position and I felt pretty good about the outcome of the interviews.

Eric did not have to work due to the holiday, so he was at home getting the condo ready to put on the market. He did trim work, paint, boxed up all his clothes, and went non-stop all day. I was also working from home so I was able to get a lot of GE work done as well. After a long day of hard work we ate leftovers and relaxed on the couch while watching Dallas Buyers Club.

Saturday we worked on the condo all day doing paint and trim work. It took me forever to do a second coat of paint on the bathroom but it looked great when I was finished. The trim also looked good and we think the bathrooms are the best rooms in the condo at this point. We also went to lunch with Eric's sister, her fiancé, and her fiancé's daughter to celebrate a belated Christmas with them. They live over an hour from our condo in Orland Park, so it was nice to see them before we move to Nashville. We are trying to see as many friends as possible before we move, so Saturday night we went out with a group of friends to get Mexican and then to a local bar.

Sunday was more work for me while Eric went out in the city with his friends. They had a going away party for him in Wrigleyville and made sure to get him nice and drunk! He was supposed to take the Metra to the city, but unfortunately we pulled up to the Metra station as the train was pulling away so I had to drive him to the city. He was also supposed to take the Metra home; however, they were all so drunk that they missed the train. I ended up picking him up in Lakeview and I found him stumbling down the street in the bike lane completely out of it.

Sunday was an eventful day for another reason because I confirmed that we are pregnant! So we are adding a baby to the mix of craziness that we have going on. In positive news, I cannot help move very much now that I won't be able to lift heavy things. It's a win win for me!

Monday we both went back to work and I was able to tell my friend Liliya the good news about the pregnancy. She was ecstatic for us and offered some advice as she recently had a baby girl. I also received a call with the job offer at Cat Financial which was excellent news. The offer came in about 10% lower than my current salary, so it was not an easy yes to take the job. At this point, I am still considering the offer and what I would like to do.

Monday night we did a little more condo work and discussed the job options for me. There is just so much to think about right now it is hard to focus on one thing! We also told my parents the good news through FaceTime since they are traveling in Australia. They were also thrilled!

Today, Tuesday the 30th, we went to the Bridgeview courthouse right when they opened to get our marriage license. We recently decided that we would get married legally in advance of our actual wedding for tax and insurance purposes so we had to get the license today. Tomorrow we will go to the courthouse in Chicago to finalize the legal part of the process and enable us to file jointly on our tax return this year. It will also allow Eric to be on my insurance while he waits for his insurance to kick in once he starts the new job. He has to wait four months for insurance benefits to start so we do not want him to have a gap in coverage.

I was off work today so I packed a few more items and went to lunch with an old coworker. I also spoke to an HR person at Cat Financial and set up lunch with a couple of the guys I interviewed with for Friday, January 2 when I am in Nashville. Coincidentally, I also received an email from my big boss asking me if I would like to work remote for GE as a senior analyst as we had discussed a couple weeks ago. I was not sure that was a true option and knowing I have two possibilities for jobs in Nashville so quickly is just great news!

Tonight we are off to dinner at my brother's condo in the city to celebrate Christmas with him and his wife. I feel like we have not stopped once in the past few weeks and there is just so much excitement going on!

Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014 was hectic for us. Eric is in the process of changing companies and moving to the Nashville, TN area and I am looking for jobs down there. We are also trying to get our condo in Orland Park, IL ready for sale and plan our wedding. As if that was not enough, we decided to host not only Christmas Eve, but also Christmas dinner at our condo.

Christmas Eve was great fun. Joy Lee, Matt Rahrig, Adam Kracik and his sister Lauren came over for dinner. Joy and Matt arrived first and decided it would be a good idea to play power hour. I didn't play since I was going to be driving later in the evening so Joy, Matt, and Eric played 90s music power hour with side bets on who sang the songs. They had a little too much fun and Joy ended up passed out on the spare bed before dinner was finished.

Eric's sister, Sarah, came by around 9 p.m. to pick Eric up and take him to their Auntie Ann's house to see some Chodl family members. The rest of us dined on pulled pork, coleslaw (with homemade mayonnaise of course), and salad. We were supposed to go to the casino after dinner so on his way home Eric called and asked me to have his dinner ready so we could just go. Little did he know that Joy was passed out and not ready to move at all.

We gave Adam and Lauren little presents prior to them leaving (they did not want to go to the casino with us) and we finally got Joy out of bed around 10:30. Once we made it to the casino, we met up with Sarah, her boyfriend Jason, and a few of their other friends. Joy and I really wanted to play craps, but the only open table was quite full so we watched for a while. I finally made a move to play when Matt and Joy were walking around, but they found me shortly afterwards. The table had not been very good at first, but it sure got better once we started playing.

We played craps for about three hours while Eric talked to his sister and her friends (it was her 23rd birthday). Matt ended up winning $1,100, primarily due to a random fire bet he played when one shooter did really well, I won $160, and Joy won $110. It was a great night at the casino! Although, we did not get home until 4 a.m. which was tough.

Christmas was great as well. We slept in after our late night so breakfast plans were thrown out the window. Joy and Matt left around noon then Eric and I started preparing for his family to arrive for Christmas dinner. His Auntie Donna, Uncle Bob, Sarah, and Jason came over around 3 p.m. and we had appetizers while Eric finished making the smoked turkey. I was able to speak with my parents since they were in Australia which was nice and Eric's parents called from Tennessee.

We had dinner, dessert, and opened presents and that completed our Christmas 2014.

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