FBTSOYP Fencing Co.

Last week I decided to start a new business. More specifically, I became the founder of a fencing company called, "Fly-By-The-Seat-Of-Your-Pants Fencing Company," or "FBTSOYP Fencing Co." for short. The company's #1 motto is: "it's not perfect, but it's perfectly acceptable." It's pretty much a one-woman show, though I do occasionally accept assistance from other equally untrained and inexperienced workers, ranging in age from 2 to 35. My first project was to build a fence to separate the goat yard from the chicken yard.

When we first got the chickens, I set up a temporary chicken-wire-and-bean-pole (poles designed to support bean plants in the garden) enclosure to keep the chickens somewhat contained.

What the chicken yard set-up looked like in April.

We were letting our small flock out to free-range during the day, so the main purpose of the enclosure ended up being to restrict the goats' access to the laying pellets and table scraps that we feed the chickens. It was mostly successful for the first couple of weeks, but then Petah discovered that she could barge right through the flimsy fence and that was pretty much the end of us being able to feed the chickens anything (and we quickly noticed a decrease in egg production).

At the end of April, just before Chive gave birth to Lou Lou and Harvey, we had a professional fence installed by an amazing local fence company (owned and run by a friend of ours). The fence completely encloses the goat barn and the chicken coop, with 2 metal gates (one on the house-side of the enclosure, and one on the pasture-side (we can connect our electric net fence to the back entrance, thus allowing the goats extra (and varied) room to graze)). And it is surprisingly chicken-proof. The only parts that aren't chicken-proof are the metal gates since the chickens can squeeze under them. It became clear pretty early on after the fence went up that we were going to need more fencing. And I decided that the best idea would be to add an extra internal fence that would also serve to separate the goats from the chickens once and for all.

Having never built a fence before, nor read anything about fence building, my knowledge of how to build one was minimal at best. But I decided to throw caution to the wind, fly by the seat of my pants, and build one anyway. When I went to the farmer's supply store to buy some fencing materials, the store worker who helped me looked concerned.

"What are you going to use these for?" she asked, quizzically, and then, eyeing Zeben strapped to my back, she added, "it's really not a good idea to fence your children in with this type of welded wire."

I can understand that I don't look like a farmer or like I'm at all qualified to build a fence. But do I really look like someone who would go to a farmer's supply store to buy fencing materials in order to build a fence for my children? I mean, does anyone look like someone who would do that?

"It's for my chickens, actually," I clarified, and the woman smiled and rang me out.

I bought 100 feet of welded wire, 6 cedar posts and a bag of fence nails (they look like the letter "U") to build the fence. Then I got to work. The first step was installing the posts, which, since we don't have a fence-post-hole digger, required digging holes with a shovel before pounding the posts in with a mallet. My sister, Jes, volunteered to help me out, and despite her rather inappropriate outfit, proved herself as a rather adept hole-digger. I, on the other hand, was dressed for success.

These pictures of me in my FBTSOYP Fencing Co. uniform

should clear up any lingering doubt about my [lack of] image-consciousness.
Jes really got into the fencing groove,
high-heeled clogs, jewelry and all.

She really knows how to ride a shovel.

The second motto of the FBTSOYP Fencing Co. is, "when you don't know what you're doing, laugh." Jes and I did plenty of that.

I found the placing of the posts to be pretty satisfying (especially the banging part; it was a great way to release any pent up anger that I may or may not accumulate as the mother of three young children), but attaching the wire to the posts gave me the most gratification. Apparently I like my livestock to be segregated. Stepping in chicken poop while chilling with the goats was not floating my boat. Chasing chickens away from our seedlings in the garden or off of our landlords' property was also becoming rather aggravating. So my favorite part about completing the project was sitting back and watching the chickens not escaping from their new enclosure.

Views of the new chicken yard:

The large, dark barn is an old tobacco barn that our landlords
use to house their many tractors along with some old lumber.

On the other side of the goat barn, I had to put up a small section of fence and a gate (to make the gate, I used some old wood scraps that I found laying around, and some store-bought hinges). And, even though it didn't turn out perfectly, it certainly is perfectly acceptable.


The only bummer about the whole project was coming out to check on things the morning after it was completed and discovering one hen, "Vulture" on the wrong side of the fence.

One unacceptable, escaped chicken and three enclosed,
very confused chickens, saying, "how did she get out there??!!"

But I'm pretty much convinced that Jaz just accidentally let her out when he was opening up the coop earlier that morning. Because no one has managed to escape again since. It's all just peaceful segregation and containment. Just in time, too, since as of this week we now have 12 hens pecking around in the new-and-improved chicken yard.

The second project for the FBTSOYP Fencing Co. was to modify the chicken coop slightly so as to make it more adequate for our six extra chickens. The coop was designed to hold only 10 birds, and while eventually we will need to build a whole other coop (once the chicka-biddies are ready to move outside), I thought that a temporary fix would just be to add some extra roosting space for our two surplus hens (chickens like to roost--sit on a beam, or in the real world, a tree--above ground level at night). So I added a cross-bar to the existing roost to make sure that each chicken would have her 12 inches of roosting space.

One of the new white-leghorns, testing out my temporary fix
("Vulture" is laying an egg in a nesting box in the background).

The third project that I undertook as sole proprieter of the FBTSOYP Fencing Co. was to install and modify a divider in the goat barn so that we'd have a way to separate the goats from each other. The main purpose of this is so that we can keep the kid goats away from the mama goats at night, and thus be able to get more than 1/2 a cup of milk for ourselves in the morning. But the new pen will also come in handy when Petah has her babies, so that we can provide her with a nice kidding stall. Lena's dad gave me most of what I needed to make this happen (an old barn divider that Lena's parents had used when they raised sheep back in the day), so all I had to do was attach it to the walls of the barn and then add some extra boards to make it goat-kid proof (which is apparently different from lamb-proof).

Chive and Harvey standing in the entrace of their fancier-than-ever barn.

Petah voluntarily hanging out in the new sectioned-off pen.

While working on the goat barn project, I got to experience the third motto of the FBTSOYP Fencing Co.: "Learning from your own foolish mistakes is also perfectly acceptable." For instance, I learned that when you use a screw that is an inch too long for your particular purpose, and when the extra inch of screw then sticks out of the backside of your project, and when you then decide to touch that protuding bit of metal, it will be really hot and burn your thumb.

The visual remnants of my screw-branding mishap.

So, now that I've finished up the most pressing of fencing-related needs on our ever-expanding farm, I am ready to start advertising my services to the community at large. If you know of anyone who needs an imperfect, but perfectly acceptable fence built, please let them know about the Fly-By-The-Seat-Of-Your-Pants Fencing Company.

Okay. So maybe I'm not really ready to head out into the world of fence contracting. But I am adding another notch to my Jack of All Trades belt. I'm also preparing for project #4: building a chicken tractor. And in keeping with motto #4, "advice from others, who may or may not know what they're talking about either, is always welcome," I'd love to hear about anyone else's experiences in chicken tractor construction! Until then, I'll just be sitting back, relaxing, letting my thumb heal, and watching the contained and segregated chickens with a big smile on my face.


If you haven't yet had a chance to ask a question in the comments section of my last post, feel free to click here, or simply scroll down, and do so. I'm planning to write out some answers sometime early next week.

And the Winner is . . .

Congratulations to Commenter #32, also known as "MB." Please email me at totallysmittenmama at gmail.com so that I can find out what your preferences are in regards to size and color and where I should ship the tiny bike tee when it's done!

I really wanted to just make little bike t-shirts for ALL of you who commented, but I know that that would be unrealistic given the amount of sewing time I have these days. But I am planning on lots more fun giveaways in the weeks to come, so hopefully everyone will win something in the the end (you know, so that it's totally and completely fair (my motto as a mama of twins)).

I also want to be able to answer some of the great questions that people asked in their comments, and so I'm thinking of doing a question and answer post in the coming week. Maybe you have a question about how tippy the bakfiets is or how we ever managed to afford to buy it in the first place. Or why, after comitting to buy it and buying it, we still haven't gone forward with selling one (or both!) of our cars. Or maybe you really just want to know what kind of sewing machine I use or if we're going to have any more babies after Leo is born. Maybe you're wondering how we find time to clean the house or focus on our marriage with three little ones running around. Perhaps you're curious about raising goats and want to know what goat milk tastes like. There's no limit to the kinds of questions a person can have when allowed full access to one's inner nosiness. You can leave your questions in the comments section of this post, and I will compile them and provide some answers sometime soon. Oh, and the person with the best question? Will definitely get a prize. So be creative and ask away!

Peep, peep, peeeeep!

There is one question that my children will now be able to answer with complete accuracy for the rest of forever: "What does a chick say?"

"Peep, peep, peeeeep!"

This is the soundtrack of our lives. Our eight little "chicka-biddies" (as Lena calls them) are quite the noisy bunch. We keep them in a large plastic bin in the mudroom, and their "habitat" is one of the main attractions of our home at the moment. The kids wake up and run downstairs to check on them every morning, and flee the bakfiets as soon as I pull into the driveway so that they can check on them when we get home from school. I am surprised by how entertaining they continue to be. I am even more surprised by how much Lena and I enjoy playing with them.

Little "Peeper" standing on top of Mount Leo

One funny thing is that we all seem to be having trouble referring to the chicks with female pronouns. "He's so cute!" "He's the biggest!" "He's escaping!" We hope that the chicks are all girls--who will grow up to be hens and lay lots of blue and green eggs for us--and we assume that at least the majority of them are. But they do kind of look like boys. What does that say about gender stereotypes?

The other day we let the chickies outside on the grass for a bit while we changed the shavings in their plastic bin (no, I do not love the smell of having chickens in my house). It is hard to get a picture of them that doesn't involve a pair of hands reaching down to scoop one up.


Zeben has been a bird lover since he was a baby. "Bird" was one of his first signs, and he noticed birds and bird art everywhere we went. These days, he'll sometimes just say out-of-the-blue, "I love birds." He loves Robins and Mourning Doves and Chickens the best. He may never recover when we relocate our birdie house guests to the barn.



Jaz and Luke really like to see what kind of tricks they can do with the chicks. They are teaching them to fly, and to balance on things. Stuff a chicken needs to know how to do.



We've still got nearly three weeks left before we can move the chicks outside for good, and while I am definitely counting down the days, I'm sure that I will miss the peeping once its gone. Unless, of course, I'm so busy enjoying the sounds of our new human baby that I don't even notice.

If you haven't yet entered the bike t-shirt giveaway contest, it's not too late! I will pick a winner tomorrow morning, Thursday May 21st, at 9:30 a.m. EST. Thank you for all the great comments so far!

Bike Week Giveaway

This past week was the 10th annual local "bike week," but it was my first. And since I'm generally a bit of a joiner, I was thrilled to get to participate.


The main way in which I participated, aside from just continuing to bakfiets my way through life as much as possible, was by attending a breakfast for bike commuters downtown. This involved setting the alarm and leaving the house a good hour ahead of when we normally would (7:15 as opposed to 8:15). And it also required that I tolerate the 3-kid chorus of "I'm freezing!" for the majority of our bike commute (it is still a bit chilly in the mornings here). But it was all worth it.

The bike breakfast was definitely a scene. A scene of all sorts of bike-loving people, yummy local food, and very enthusiastic energy.


Not to mention the large and varied collection of bikes! It was like a vision of a futuristic parking lot (at least that's the future I dream about).


Luke and Jaz quickly joined up with some of their pals, and hopped into the pedicab for a ride (the pedicab is owned by some friends of ours who live car-free and bought it to use when their (aging) mothers come to town. Isn't that sweet?). They loved it ("it's waaaay more fun than the bakfiets, mom"), and had a great time at the event.


Zeb focused on eating his bagel and cream cheese while taking in the flurry of activity around him.


I find I'm often at a loss for words when I'm around hardcore cyclists. The truth is that I really don't know all that much about bicycles. I just like riding them. Sometimes when people see me riding the bakfiets around town, they assume that I am one of those hardcore cyclists, but of course I'm not. I don't even know how the bakfiets works really, and I'm certainly no good at explaining anything bike-related to a non-biker. So I can feel like a bit of a poser when I'm standing around in a crowd of real bikers. Which is not to say that it's not a welcoming group of people. Really, that's what bike week is all about. Bike week wants joiners like me. The more bike commuters there are, the more bike commuters there will be. Biking is catching. And I love being a part of spreading it around.

Lena surprised me a couple days ago with one last birthday present that, coincidentally, went along quite well with the theme of the week. It's a t-shirt with a bicycle on it, and I love it. She got one for herself too (one of the difficulties of a lesbian marriage; we will have to be very careful to never wear them at the same time), and here she is, modeling it:

"Really? You need to take my picture right now?"
(34.5 weeks and grouchy . . . and soooo beautiful)

In the spirit of my very first bike week, I'm inspired to offer my very first giveaway to one of my blog readers. The winner (who will be chosen randomly) will receive one of my tiny hand-dyed t-shirts with a tiny bicycle appliqued onto it. The size (newborn-24 months) and color of the shirt will be chosen to suit the little future-bike-lover in your life. For a chance to win, all you have to do is leave a comment at the bottom of this post!

bike options

Happy Bike Week To All!

"It Made the Children Laugh and Play . . . "

Luke and Jaz are in two separate kindergarten classrooms at a local independent school. Both classrooms follow the same general curriculum, and the main focus of study for the spring semester is animals. They've studied zoo animals and farm animals, pets, and wild animals. They know all about what types of animals live in what types of habitats and what the word "diurnal" means (hint: humans are diurnal). And during these last few weeks of school, their studies are culminating in children bringing in their pets from home for show-and-tell. Luke and Jaz decided that they'd like to bring in the baby goats.

When Lena and I arrived at the school yesterday morning, with Lou Lou Unicorn and Harvey Milk in our arms, I noticed that both kindergarten teachers had decided to focus the day's "morning message," the main literacy component of the curriculum--in this case also a bit of a math lesson--on our visit. The messages said:

Dear Kindergarteners,

Lukas and Jaz's
goat had 2 babies.
How many "kids"
do they have in their family?

I loved it! The teachers decided that, providing it was a nice day, it would probably be best if this particular "sharing" session could take place outside. So each class made a circle in a grassy spot on the playground right next to the school building, and Luke and Jaz took turns showing each of the baby goats to their classmates. I was in the circle with Lukas and his class.


We all had a great time and I was so glad for Luke and Jaz to be able to share the goaty part of their lives with their peers. And, luckily, their teachers were way more welcoming of these "ungulates" than Mary's teacher was of her lamb when he came to school. Luke's teacher even wants to buy a couple of kids from us at the end of the summer! And depending on how the summer goes, we may very well be offering to sell her a couple of each type of kid, if she's interested.

Just kidding, of course.

Twenty Nine

Yesterday was my birthday, and I am now a shockingly-close-to-thirty 29-year-old! I spent the anniversary of my birth enjoying the beautiful sunshine (thank you, Earth!) and reflecting on everything that's happened since my birthday last year. I had somehow always known that the year I was 28 would be significant and special, and it certainly did turn out that way. So many of my dreams became reality. My life now is so different from how it was a year ago, in a multitude of wonderful ways: the bakfiets, the pregnancy, the new house, the animals, living next door to my mom and sister . . . it's rather overwhelming, really!

Of course, the past year wasn't all loveliness. And I appreciate how Life works out like that. How birth and death can occur simultaneously, and our happiest of times can also be our saddest of times. It was shortly after my birthday last year that my parents separated and then decided to get divorced. Last year on my birthday, we (my mom, dad, Lena, Zeben and I) were sitting in the yard sharing a picnic lunch, talking about my parents' new house and all of the exciting plans for the summer. I remember my parents asking me what I wanted for my birthday, and insisting to them that they'd already given me the best gift they ever could: they were moving out here to be near us and be more present in the kids' lives. It was so amazing that it didn't feel real. And, as it turned out, it wasn't real. Instead, it has been an intense year of on-going adjustment, as I've struggled to help my mother through a crippling depression, and adjusted my vision of the future and my family. So there was something bittersweet about my birthday this year as I thought about all that has changed and all that could have been.

Still, it was an amazing day, with perfect weather and plenty of surprises. The main celebratory event was a potluck that we hosted in the backyard. It was my ideal birthday party: amazing friends and family, delicious food, sun and breeze, a fire burning, happy packs of children running about, plenty of drooly, smiling babies, and nothing for me to do but relax, eat, and take some pictures.

The balloons were the first guests to arrive.
I used blank wooden peg figures as weights,
and they worked very well.

The kids' table
(Aviva, Rio, Zeben and Sina)

Zeb and his pal, Sina, busy eating

Baby Linus and the blue balloon

Katie, Aaron, and Eli

It was as if they hadn't eaten watermelon since last summer
(oh right, they hadn't!)

Two cakes!
A cheesecake that I made for Lena (who took her LAST exam that morning)
And a chocolate birthday cake for me (my favorite, from my favorite bakery)

Blowing out my candles
(with lots of help!)

The party came at the end of a day full of fun and special events. Luke and Jaz woke me up with my first gift: a box of wooden dinosaurs (since they know how much I love dinosaurs and how much I love wooden toys).

The next special thing also arrived in the box of a wooden dinosaur . . .


But the contents was something much noiser than any wooden toy I've ever seen:

8 day-old chicks!

And my wife had a very sweet surprise in store for me, indeed (aside from the one who's due to arrive in about six weeks).

Who could ask for anything more?

She went behind my back, and turned my first year of blog posts into a book! A really thick, really nice, and fancy book!


Some of my favorite posts pages:

"RIP, Peter Parker"

"A Thin Slice of Heaven"

"Collaborative Art"

I've been having a great time flipping through and remembering about all sorts of forgotten happenings. I'm so glad that I have this hard copy to save and one day show the kids. Thank you, Love!

I'm still formulating my goals for the coming year, the last of my twenties! . . . More on those soon. Also stay tuned for my very first giveaway (something I'm told I'm way overdue for), more "chicky" news, and a bike week report. Welcome, 29!