FARM TO ABLE

“There is a lot of Googling that goes on at this house on a daily basis, sometimes on an hourly basis,” says Chelsie Otto with a laugh. “But with all of these animals, we’re kind of learning as we go.”

All of this online research is in service of the “tiny farm” she and her husband, Zach, have created on their property in Barrington Hills.

“Zach and I are both from small, rural towns,” Otto says. “When we bought this house in 2017 and saw that we had some land to work with, we thought it would be fun to see what we could do.”

Just off their main house, the Ottos have added 23 chickens, one rooster, seven ducks, a handful of fish, and a bountiful garden to their family of two little boys, Jackson, 5 and James, 3 (a baby girl on the way in December) and three dogs. Chelsie’s husband has also built a smokehouse, a meditation garden, and several walking paths named after the boys.

“This has been the most amazing family project,” Otto explains. “I am literally learning something new every day because we do almost all of the work ourselves. It’s been wonderful to do this with the boys because there are so many good lessons for them—the whole idea of having to take care of something other than yourself has been a big one.”

But the little boys don’t look at their tiny farm as anything other than a joy. They run from the main house to the garden, dodging and weaving between the chickens and ducks roaming freely throughout the yard. Jackson is particularly well versed in what has been planted in the garden this year.

“There’s tomatoes, jalapenos, lettuce, and squash,” he describes as he points to each row of the well-planned garden. “And over there, those tiny, tiny plants are corn. We put deer spray on the corn and the spray smells so bad. It stops the animals from eating the plants.”

While Jackson may be an expert on the garden, Otto herself has learned lots about chickens.

“I had no idea how much a chicken’s living environment impacts how it lays its eggs,” she says. “For example, we tend to clean their coop every week. But if we’re out of town, it might be 10 days before we can get out there, so they will find a spot to lay their eggs that’s more pleasing to them. We will find their eggs somewhere else in the yard or the woods. Isn’t that crazy? They’re very smart and particular in that way.”

Today, the Ottos’ chickens are laying about 17 eggs each day. And now the ducks are starting to lay eggs, too.

“The duck eggs were a real surprise for us,” she recalls. “My husband eats about 10 eggs a day for breakfast. One day, he was cracking his eggs and realized one of them was like a rock. He did a little investigating and realized that it was a duck egg that was so hard to break. I swear, we’re always having to Google something.”

Yet learning on the job has probably one of the biggest selling points for the Ottos to having a tiny farm.

“I have yet to meet someone who has known exactly what they were doing when they decided to turn parts of their yard into a farm,” Otto observes. “If you want to try it, put all of your inhibitions aside and just do it! You will figure it out. And it’s so much fun if you have kids because it keeps them busy all year round. It won’t always be perfect, and you will make some mistakes. Yet, you will gain so much confidence when you see the great impact you can make on the animals or your garden. It’s been awesome and so much fun to experience as a family.”

The Ottos enjoy their property the most during weekends. They lovingly call their guest house “the barn” and often stay there after a busy work week.

“We absolutely love living out here,” Otto says. “We’re very proud of all we’ve done. We realize with all of the little custom things we’ve done to make this property our own that we probably can’t ever leave—but that’s okay. I wouldn’t want to anyway.”