Studerbabies Farm

For a long time Brandon and I talked about getting chickens someday. Ya know, the 'ole someday plan. Until one spring day in 2018, we just did it - we bought some chickies at Tractor Supply.

we set them up in the dining room in a dog crate

and we learned...about how much chickies spill their water and peck the floor and kick up wood chips and poop.

Good Lord, the poop.

then Brandon built a chicken coop (with help from all our favorite, handiest men - thank you Pap, Chum, and Butter)

And we moved our chickies outside

our kids learned to hold them gently

we made them frozen snacks and shared our food scraps

we lost a few to hawks and fox

we learned some more

our kids started shouting to chase off hawks in the sky

Bullet and Trixie, our dogs, learned to do the same

we cleaned lots of chicken poop off the patios

we tried using rubber snakes to scare them away from the patios (that didn't work)

then we chased chickens off the patio well shouting, "Get off my porch!"

Bullet became watchdog of the patios and herder to the coop

we swept mulch off the sidewalks everyday after the chickens do their scratch and peck dance

we got our first eggs

learned how to keep them and clean them and new ways to cook them

we shared them with family, friends, and neighbors

we broke plenty

we got to understand why people say chickens are the 'gateway drug' to farming

we got a little itch for learning more about homesteading

we got our chickens through their first winter

we learned some more

we felt pretty good about raising chickens. 

in the spring of 2019, we got some more chickies

we even tried our hand at the farmers market...with four kids, in the rain...

we laughed and learned

we realized we got some roosters in that batch

having roosters right at the peak of the #metoo movement was very bad for this momma's heart and mind.

we learned some more

we realized we were not the rooster raising kind of farmers

we vowed never to get roosters again

we became the eat your pets kind of people for just this once

we didn't laugh that time, but we did learn

in the spring of 2020, I sent Brandon and the big kids out for lunch and dog food

they came home with new chickies and no lunch

we laughed and I learned....not to send the big kids to Tractor supply in the springtime

we still chase chickens off the patio shouting "Get off my porch!"

we still sweep mulch off the sidewalks everyday

we decided we had enough space, love, and ambition to expand this little farmette atop the mountain

we started researching goat raising

we learned quite a lot

we mapped out our goat pasture

I pinned a lot of stuff on pinterest

B built a fence (again with the help of our favorite handymen)

the drill got stuck, there are wild cherry trees in the pasture, and everyone had blisters on their hands

we laughed and learned

we spent a lot of money at tractor supply

we learned some more

we spent more money at tractor supply

we learned new vocabulary specific to goat raising and then hit the farm marketplaces online

we found our goats and purchased them and made plans to pick them up

we watched youtube videos, followed homesteaders on instagram, and printed animal management binders

everyone helped to build the shelter

Brandon drove two and half hours to a farm to pick up two yearlings

we brought our first two goats home: Donut and Polly

we thought we had a clue, we thought this was the easy part

but then

Polly hopped over the fence within three minutes of coming home

Brandon, Grey, and I hunted her down and returned her to the fence

we did that three more times that first day

we didn't laugh at first (we were too sweaty, and worried, and tired) 

but then we did laugh and we learned

we have three more goats coming home tomorrow

we have our fingers crossed that Donut becomes the herd queen for the three doelings

we hope they don't learn to do the fence boing boing dance from Polly

we are taking it slow and learning everyday

laughing and learning

we have five kids, two dogs, thirteen chickens, and five goats

welcome to Studerbabies farm

find us on instagram: @studerbabiesfarm