Chickabee Farm – New Canaan, CT

May 27, 2020

I had a blast with this little mini session and Front Steps Project photo for Kristina and her “extended” family!

From Kristina:

“What I do- I’m a mom first. I have my own design build company. I focus mainly on kitchens and bath remodels. My husband supports all our fun adventures there’s and keeps us all working hard:)
About our bees and chicks- right when covid started and the boys came home we decided to get the chicks bc we lost our 6 yr old hen last fall. Thought it would be fun to start a new flock while everyone was home to help and watch them grow and spark joy in an uncertain time. It certainly has. We started them in a big bin in the garage and the boys would gather every night and watch them and play with them, name them and care for them. Once we moved them outside it was fun to let them play in the grass And help keep them safe.  We meant to get 3 chicks and keep the project small but somehow we ended up with 10.
Next we decided to get bees. We use to live in wilton and my now 21 year old was 12 yrs when we moved and interested in raising bees so we did but shortly after we made the move to new canaan the bees didn’t survive. Having him home for covid I said we should try bees again now that everyone is home to help also it felt like a good thing to do for nature. The world is hurting and we can’t do anything to help so we thought raising bees could be a tiny step in a positive direction. It proved to keep us busy ordering the hive kits, assembling them, painting them with three coats of paint, picking up the bee packages, suiting up and shaking them into the hive, making sugar water syrup and monitoring the queens. Already the property feels happy with the busy bees in all the blossoms. Love them and love that all the boys hardly wear any protection working with them- they discovered quickly how gentle they are and have no fear of them even when they open up the hives and there are literally hundreds of bees all over them.
Garden- the other project we did since covid started was put in a big garden. The first week they started talking things would close we went out and got seeds. Kids put them under grow lights and just a week or so ago they planted all their young plants outside. We’re going to have a summer full of lettuces, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Also plenty of cutting flowers to make sure we have fun beautiful  finds when we go down to harvest.
I think all these projects have been awesome to keep everyone engaged and busy and proud of their accomplishments and also filling their days with love.
We built our barn 5 years ago and totally gutted and remodeled the main house and revamped the landscaping but one thing we hadn’t quite gotten around to doing was to name our house. When we were knee deep in building the hives with baby chicks peeping and seedlings sprouting “chickabee Farm” seemed to sound sweet and happy- so far it has stuck.
Sam is 21 and is home from brigham young university in Utah (he went to Korea fir two years after high school to Be a service missionary).
Gus is 18 and is home from northfield mount Herman prep school in Massachusetts. He plays basketball for their national varsity team. He plans to play in college when he graduates. (He has several d3 offers;)
William- he is 14 (turning 15 this weekend) and is full of life! He’s so happy to have his brothers home. He can only wish home quarantine will last forever. He goes to Nc highschool.
Dukes- is an English Springer spaniel. He is almost 9yrs. He is everyone’s best friend.”