Warning: Unsolicited Chick Pics

Your feelings and moods are valid. You deserve time and space to process your emotions. It’s okay to not be okay. — This little itty bitty ball of pure mood.

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Here’s What’s Happening At Good Spirits Farm

As you can see, we have some new additions to the farm! I ordered these chicks about six months ago. Six months ago me thought that the frenzy of being a new mom would have calmed down by now. Six months ago me was wildly wrong. [Is that the sound of every experienced parent cackling that I hear?]

Last week, I almost canceled my order. Not only are we frenetically busy with Farm Baby, full-time jobs, spotty child care, and all the current critters, but cuts to the USPS have meant shipping chicks is no longer reliable. Yes, the USPS ships chicks! It’s something they’ve done since 1892 (great explainer here from the wonderful chicken author Tove Danovich), and I’ve had terrific results with shipped chicks in the past. But USPS cuts are heavily impacting rural areas, and in poultry farming Facebook groups, I’ve heard nothing but horror stories about thousands of chicks being dead on arrival.

The hatchery had a steep cancellation fee, and chicks coming from big box stores, like Tractor Supply, are often in rough shape from less-than-ideal care. However, I knew that if we wanted to have eggs this winter, as our old gals take the winters off these days, we’d need a new batch of hens.

So, I did that super healthy thing where I kept putting off making a decision until I got a shipping notification and realized inertia had made the decision for me.

And then I spent the next two days flooded with anxiety that I’d essentially sentenced 15 babies to a slow death by starvation in the back corner of a postal warehouse. I don’t think I realized how anxious I was about this all going wrong until I heard my mail carrier call from the post office on Tuesday morning, asking if I’d like to come get the chicks directly or wait for her to drop them off. I could hear cheeping in the background, and I wanted to cry from relief.

I feel lucky that I have not struggled with postpartum depression, but it’s becoming pretty clear that I am struggling with postpartum anxiety. The night before the chicks arrived, I told Todd that I was not feeling myself. I had this all-over sense of unease that I couldn’t seem to shake or pin to a specific thing. It was this intense feeling of overwhelm. The moment I knew the chicks were safe, that feeling lifted. This is something I’m clearly going to have to be more cognizant of, so I can recognize what I’m feeling and identify potential causes, versus just walking around as a ball of nerves.

Getting more chicks meant putting the Broodinator 5000, one of the first things Todd built for the farm, back into service. We’ve been keeping the Broodinator (which is very large and very heavy) up in the hayloft, which meant using the tractor to get it down. We don’t use our front-end loader on the tractor very often, but boy, is it handy when we need it!

The good news is these itty bitties seem to be settling in well.

Veli is enjoying watching her chick flicks.

And I’m enjoying playing mother hen—teaching them how to drink from their water dispenser, and how to tuck under the heat plate when they need a warm spot for a nap.

(This one came with pre-applied eyeliner, which is fortunate because that’s a skill I can’t do myself, let alone teach.)

We’ll need names soon, so put on your thinking caps!

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Here’s What I Loved This Week

Last week, we took our first off-the-farm getaway with Farm Baby. Fall Creek Falls State Park in Tennessee is a lovely spot for a weekend trip. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a family-friendly spot with hiking, a nice lodge, and lovely waterfall views.

I have another interview to publish in the next newsletter — or as soon as I have the bandwidth to get it transcribed! Stay tuned!