The second week of the month was a wild and crazy one.   The week began with a work co-op day, several members of our farmer networking group came to the farm to help us build two new field pens for chickens. 
 
Tuesday we moved turkeys out of the brooder into the field.  Tuesday & Wednesday were also busy with assembling the new freezer/cooler and trying to line up the refrigeration guy.  Late Wednesday it was time to load pigs and cows to go to the butcher. 
 
Thursday was when the week began to get really busy!  Jody was on the road at 5:30 a.m. to deliver the animals to the processor.  When he got home at 9:30 there was beef and pork to put away in the old freezers (the walk-in still isn't completely finished).  Then, the two week old chicks needed to be moved out of the brooders to get ready for the new chicks.  Normally those would arrive on Friday morning, but we got a phone call from the Bloomington post office telling us the chicks had arrived there on a very warm truck.  Although they would usually come to the Ottawa post office on the following morning, we were concerned for their well-being so I drove down (a three and a half hour round trip) to pick them up ASAP.  I got home and we got the chicks (all healthy) into the brooders and wrapped up our work day about 9:30.  As we went to bed we discussed the chance of rain in the forecast.
 
About 2:30 Friday morning our youngest son woke me up and I heard a light rain falling.  I woke Jody and he went out to check on the young chicks that had just been moved out into the field.  I stayed to get Jack settled back to sleep, and dozed off myself.  An hour later Jody returned to get me to help.  The chicks had all settled to sleep in the front quarter of their pens (the only part NOT covered by tarp).  In the hour I had snoozed there had been a heavy downpour and Jody was working on rescue.  He had taken steps to get as many as possible out of the rain, but there were a large number that were soaked and chilled.  He brought up almost 200 chicks, we returned them to a brooder with heat lamps and hoped for the best.  Happily the next day we found 170 of the chicks recovered and only nine dead, far better than I would have guessed looking at those shivering, soggy little guys that came in from the rain.
 
Friday continued, regular animal chores and the care and feeding of three boys go on, no matter what time you get up.  Friday also brought a tour and interview that we had previously scheduled with a reporter from Crain's Chicago Business.  It finished in the evening with us going in two directions, Beth to Naperville on a delivery and Jody and the boys to Richard's baseball game.  When we got home we put in one more hour thoroughly tarping the whole pens of the young chicks, there was once again a chance of rain in the forecast.
 
Next came Saturday, on the way to the Oak Park delivery, I was rear-ended on Rt. 71.  Luckily, only vehicles were injured, and mine was still drivable.  So I made it to the delivery, slightly late but it worked out OK.
 
Saturday evening found us preparing 45 shares and our market freezer for our first farmer's market of the season.
 
Finally on Sunday we hooked up the trailer, picked up a fellow farmer who was carpooling with us and we were on our way to market!  When we got home Sunday night we figured out that we had worked about 50 hours each over the past three days.  Whew!
 

Well, we've made it, June is finally here! As I write this I'm in Arthur, (a small town 180 long miles south of Ottawa) waiting for the processor to finish our first group of chickens for this year.  The finished flock turned out quite a bit smaller than we planned; the wet, cool spring took a hard toll on them.  I'm eagerly awaiting them though, because I knew we were running very short for the last couple deliveries before June we haven't had any chicken for quite a while!  
 
Other preparations are coming along well also.  Jody and the boys are at home today, working with the contractor to get the cement pad poured for our new walk-in freezer.  Once that's assembled we'll pick up this month's beef and pork from the butcher. 

Last Friday we welcomed the two newest members of our staff. Sasha and Sophie are six month old Polis Tatra pups; our new livestock guardian dogs.  They come from a fellow farmer (he raises sheep in Lamont) and so have great credentials, both parents are working dogs and the girls have been exposed to the job from the beginning.

Jody and I have approached this like many new endeavors on the farm,  with great enthusiam and a willingness to learn as we go.  We're excited to have another line of defense in our ongoing effort to thwart the raccoons, coyotes, and other predators that harass our chickens.  We're also excited about the dogs themselves.  They are, of course, adorable.  In addition though they are friendly to people, and clearly smart.

Sasha was the more outgoing sister at first, ready to approach people and be handled almost as soon as she arrived.  Sophie took a few more days to get comfortable with us, but has adjusted well.

On Tuesday Sasha was already on the job, although she gave us a scare.  Ginger and Sadie, our two older pets, along with Sasha raced towards the timber, barking a warning at a coyote.  Ginger and Sadie soon returned without the pup.  Jody was concerned so went out look for her, Sophie followed close to him.  He couldn't find her, so returned to the house and call me to come home early from a meeting in Ottawa so he could search more throughly. 

All ended well though, by the time I got home Sasha was back in the yard. We're working now to teach them the boundary of our fields, and their responsibility!

All in all I think they'll be a great addition to the farm! 

Yesterday was both the Spring equinox and the one of the first days that has truly felt like Spring.  We marked the day with that time honored tradition - spring cleaning.

We borrowed a dump trailer, recruited our teenaged nephew and got to work. 

Although cleaning is never a favorite activity; work did pay off.  After a few hours we had made significant progress in the shed and barnyard. 

The purpose of the clean up was two fold.  We  are beginning to prepare the space to install the walk-in freezer and we're getting ready for our Pastured Poultry Workshop on April 9. 

Hopefully, many more sunny, warm days will be coming soon!

We had a nerve wracking week at the end of February/beginning or March, but the good news is we got a great story out of it! 
 
We submitted a grant proposal to the Frontera Foundation at the end of January.  The grant was written to help pay for some large capital investments we're planning to undertake this spring, including a walk-in freezer, price computing scale, a bar code scanner, and inventory control software.  We could get by without some of those things, but as we expand the number of meat share holders all will be really helpful, and the most costly -the freezer- is an absolute must!
 
So, on February 28 (the day that the awards were due to be announced)  we hadn't received any notification.  Around 4:30 Jody called the foundation and was told that the Board was meeting that night to finalize their decision on four farms.  "OK"' we thought, "we're still in the running".
 
The following day we checked e-mail compulsively and finally decided to call again.  I learned that the board had made its decisions, but notification was via postal mail, and no, the young man I was speaking to couldn't give us a hint.
 
So, we steeled ourselves to wait until Monday - nothing!  Tuesday came and STILL no word, yes or no!  What was going on?  Jody spoke to someone and he was going to look into it.
 
On Wednesday, Jody called again and spoke to Jen Fite and learned... they hadn't received our grant submission!  Although I copied myself when I sent the e-mail and that was delivered and there had been no failure notice, for some reason it hadn't gone through to them.  Jen had Jody resend the e-mail directly to her while they were on the phone.  She got it that time, and told Jody that she would forward it to the board right away.
 
Jody called me to tell me the news, he was feeling pretty positive but I was gloomy.  I felt totally responsible, since I was the one to say that since they accepted email submissions we should send it that route.  AARRRG!
 
Finally, Thursday morning, a full week after we expected to learn the decision.  Jen called at 9 a.m. with the news.
 
Our proposal was funded, overnight, in full!  The board members made their decision and sent Jen an email that not only granted full funding, but commended our proposal as one of the most "thoroughly thought out and complete applications" they had received and suggested that they should "consider it a model for future application"!
 
Needless to say, we are thrilled and relieved!  The next month will be pleastly busy with shopping and setting up our new equiptment.