Today is our anniversary, 23 years strong.  We are still working as farmers this year.  We have reduced the herd to three girls:  Gracie, Ophelia and Lily.  After a much needed break from October to January,  the girls came home bred from a farm in Lamont IL. We managed to contact a veterinarian in Monece IL  and transported them for annual blood tests.  While there we celebrated by buying two mini nubians, three weeks old.  Our big girl babies will arrived in April and May.  Meanwhile we look forward to playing with these two little guys, Frodo and Pip weigh less than 10 pounds.  They require feeding twice a day but are fun and busy.  

They will be a good addition for school groups and day care centers.  They are small and full of energy.  Pip stopped long enough for a photo shoot.

Say WHAT?  We have been listed as  the 22nd most interesting activity in Chicago for the month of April.
Take a look at : https://secretchicago.com/april-roundup/
​People enjoy baby goats and beer here on the West Side.  

We named our farm for our fathers who both had the name Glenn, as well as David's grandfather Arthur.  Our hopes for the future rests also on our son also named Arthur.  So GlennArt Farm was born.  Yet this dairy farm space in the city of Chicago was developed with the wisdom and continual stories of my mother Janet  Castor Huskey.  

So I take time before the crush of the day at 4am to reflect on these stories because we celebrate our birthdays this week.  Mom celebrated her 89 years on the 15th of March  and I reached 65 on the March 19th today.  I have very little time for reflection as high season of milking and goat chills increase with the improving spring weather. Yet I feel called to give tribute the heritage of my mother's farm background that has led to the development of this city farm. 

A decade ago, I began to keep chickens and goats, with an interest in honey bees.  Mom had no experience in beekeeping, yet she had plenty of chickens and goat experience while growing up on a farm near Utica, Kansas. In 2008, I obtained my first three chickens and was so excited to get eggs that I took a photo and sent it to her. 

I began asking my questions to Mom, who has quietly maintain a careful life in a humble Christian faith.  Raised during the depression. she has always lived frugally.  She has invested in her children and carefully organizes finances understanding the hard lesson of not depending on economic stability.  She took on computers as they have developed since Microsoft's first personal computer in 1986.  To this day she manages her finances using the ever changing QuickBooks. 

Mom talked about chicken illnesses and nesting boxes with me. We discussed deep litter and cleaning the coop once or twice a year, which is what I do by the seasons.   Her family raised chickens for meat and eggs.  Chicks were bought (as today happens) from a hatchery and raised separating the roosters for meat and hens for eggs.  After a time, the hens went into the pot as well.  Mom knows how to kill, clean a chicken.  To this day she makes the best chicken broth for soups.  

My mother was a sickly child, and those days buying vitamins was expensive.  The doctor told my Grandpa Charlie Castor to buy a nanny goat.  So my uncle Charles Lee milked the goat so Janet would drink fresh goat milk every day.  It helped her health and God gave her a strong spirit of will that carried her for a lifetime.  While I do not credit the goat with the strong spirit of will, it helped her begin to carry a body that has had complications to this day.  It also gave me a story to tell customers about the wonders of fresh goat milk.

Mom knew a thing or two about milking goats as well.  She was visiting one summer in 2012,  when I had to milk one of our goats in the field.  My learning curve as usual was through the roof, working to establish a herd in the city.  We  moved the goats to graze at Garfield Park, and for some reason I was concerned that one was too full of milk.  Mom came with me to the field, watching my attempts to milk a goat without a milk stand in the middle of the Park.  "You have to soften up the udder to get the milk to drop." she said.  Say what?  I never heard of that on Youtube.  She was right. Massaging the udder and pumping the teats reduced the pressure to allow the milk to drop.  She also noted that the mommy goat holds back milk for the babies.  It was my introduction to the world of managing goat udders, which has been my challenge over the years. 

Farm life conversation  came up recently  as David and I analyzed our retirement in these next few years.  After a bit of research we decided to purchase (!) a rat terrier puppy. I have never had a puppy to raise, ad all  of our past dogs were rescued adults.  We were excited to get Sophie, our pension puppy. We hope that she will be our traveling companion till we are 80 years old, as rat terriers live over 15 years.  Sophie comes from a breeder who maintained this breed with traditional genetics for hunting.  Sophie will be trained to be a working dog as we battle rats, which I call my own personal war on zombies, cause these vermin always re appear.

When I sent photos of Sophie,  Mom mentioned Bob.  Historically rat terriers were the main farm dog breed in her days in the 1940s.  Small and strong, rat terriers would hunt rats and predators of the chickens.  They could even herd larger animals.  Only about 20 pounds, they were easy to feed and very pleasant companions.  The Castor family received Bob from Charles Lee's then girlfriend when Mom started elementary school.  Bob was a busy dog, hunting rats and rabbits.  Mom loved Bob.  Bob also chased cars (!) and got injured a lot. Bob ended up using three legs towards the end.  He also liked to ride in trucks.  So Bob jumped into the truck with a hired worker driving grain to Beeler grain elevator instead of Utica,  a place unfamiliar to Bob.  He was about 15 years old when he jumped out of the truck and was lost.  Mom said the family made a special trip back to Beeler looking for him.  It hurt to lose Bob.  Soon after, Mom left for college and began another phase of her life.  But that was a different story. 

Pieces of my life fit into my mother's past and her story, and more. Janet Castor Huskey has memories that I cherish in connecting her past with my present. These details fill  my own farm heritage for teaching the next generation.  Thank you Mom.  ​

We had THREE sets of TRIPLETS on March 6 and two sets of twins since that day. We were waiting for all goats to kid; in these last days we realize that Sally is still holding out.  Since, our top five milkers are ready to operate,  we are opening Milk sales today March 17.  Gracie, Leani, Starry, Ophelia and Emma gave over three gallons this morning.   Click on the link below to connect with our webpage.  Hope to hear from you soon.

Overwork continues to be a main stressor of farmers.  Urban farmers are no less inoculated.   Last year was difficult, with bike accident and a broken neck and sickness in babies, it was difficult to share hard lessons.  Not to mention COVID complications. We are currently on a break visiting our son, and away from our seven day work week.  Rest reminds me to me to seek the beauty of the moments we live at GlennArt Farm.

My first thought is gratitude for Volunteers and Workers.  We simply were not able to do ANYTHING new without the volunteers that help us.  This year we are seeing results at the Waller street Pasture and on our small plot of land at Midway Park because of volunteers.  We also have a lovely crew of kids ages 12 to 14 that we hire for evening chores.  Last year and this year we have hired a weekend helpers to keep us going.  Life becomes a bit more wild as I learn to manage time of others and how to communicate needs appropriately.
Here is a slide show of  many 2020 to 2021 volunteers and workers.   I hope to continue to recognize their support by adding more photos of others. 

Time to sleep and rest also provides me with time to look back at the kidding season which cranked up 2021 to a blur of activity.  March 6 was our big day.  Emma gave birth to twin boys. We continued to have kidding season every two days until March 14.  Every kid arrived safely and all are growing well.  We were flooded with appointments to play with goats, and weekends were booked through Augustl. Weekdays from 10 am to 6pm remain available.  Remarkably people come to chill with goats even in the cool March temps, wet days of rain and hot temperatures of early spring. 

Still interested?  Contact David at glennartyoga@gmail.com to come on weekdays.  We also work with an app called FEVER at the link listed below this text
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Our other service is providing raw unpasteurized goat milk.  Milk began slowly.  We waited for milk quality samples from the laboratory  to begin selling milk in late March.  With a new source for alfalfa hay, we have increased our production and watch carefully for illness.  Cleaning the goat area daily is a hard chore to maintain; however it is our main defense against infection.  Our production has been amazing this year with nearly 3 gallons per day.  Customers continue to arrive looking for this rare product in the Chicago area.  If interested please contact us by clicking on this button. 

 Photo 1:  Starry Night becomes a much better mom this year caring for her twins.
Photo 2:  Our first quart sold this year the end of March.
Photo 3:  Goats lounging at the Waller Street pasture waiting for friends to visit.

Monday October 5 was a date of  many transitions for our tiny farm. The main change for us is the arrival of Kevin. David and I  traveled 300 miles to retrieve him from Happy Hallow Farm in East Moline.

Kevin has arrived at our farm to service our girls. He comes with great credentials, musky smell, and a beautiful black beard. He is a 5 year old Alpine buck with good genetic lines who has a lot of experience with breeding.  With our small spaces, his lack of horns is very important. Surprisingly he has a very nice personality with the public, appreciating nose scratches.

GlennArt holds goat chills daily, where groups come to enjoy the pasture with baby goats and mommies.  At 4 pm on Monday, Kevin spiced it up with the two young ladies who were at the pasture when he pulled up.  The mommy goats smelled him through the enclosed van,  immediately running to the fence. Our visitors  sat on the other side of the fence separation with the baby goats and watched a scene from Animal Planet Kevin entered his new kingdom and reviewed the goat mommies immediately.  We kept the baby girls separate, as they are to young for breeding.  Maybe they were out of reach, but not out of smell as he snorted at them through the fence.

Kevin knows what to do, so much so that he woke me up this early morning  with his tap dancing paces on the plastic pallets in the garage. I have heard of other bucks making loud noises, hollering in the process. Not our Kevin he was silent but insistent. He was trying to get through the fence to Betty who looked quite happy to accommodate him, though she is not on the list for breeding.  He was peeing and snorting and pushing the separating fence which I reinforced at 4am.  He continued to check the other four mommy goats in his area to see if they are ready.  Impressive.  He will be here for 45 days, through two esterus cycles to make certain the girls are bred for 2021. 

After a dry and hot August and early September, the appearance of our last nectar flow of Asters, Golden Rod and Wild Garlic creates a glamorous prelude to fall colors.  Yesterday's rain has helped.  It is the last hurrah for bees to find pollen and nectar before the estimated frost of October. 

After finding a bumble queen in fall 2019, much to my surprise I found another Bumble Queen.  She was  obvious as she appeared over 1 inch large.  I estimated her to be a 'bombus bimaculatus,' based on her markings and wings.  There are 9 bumble varieties in the state of Illinois and I have seen the queens of two of them.  Here is a link to learn about bumble lifestyles and details.
​https://www.greatsunflower.org/sites/default/files/imce/Eastern_Bumble_Bee.pdf
 
Enjoy the beauty ​around you today , it comes in small doses along the street, in the crevasses of the gutter, behind the bushes in your yard.