Sunday we drove to Montour Falls to pick up some new additions: Lily and Daphne, a pair of female mini donkeys.

Lily is the spotted one and is 3 years old. Daphne is behind her and is 13 years old. They stick together like glue.

Look at those spots!

The horses weren’t quite sure what to make of them.

Keiko had to take a closer look.


Here is a video of them out in the field and meeting everyone.

Twas day one of the new year
And all through the farm
The snow covered everything
With all of its charm

The chickens gathered and took great care
That no one stepped even one foot out there

Even the guineas all snug in their coops
Stepped in the snow for one tiny loop

When from the barn there arose such a clatter
the turkeys ran out to see what was the matter
I ran to the driveway and flew like a flash
and fell on the ice right on my ash

(there was ice under that new-fallen snow
it didn’t matter I poured yesterday’s ashes below)

Afraid I was to get away
I had to drive down the driveway and get some hay
Getting down was easy, I knew I could do it
But getting up would be hard, I had to stick to it

Now gas it! and gun it! and use four wheel drive!
I had to get up the driveway alive!
To the top of the hill I had to go all the way
To get up there and unload all this hay!

As turkey feathers that before the wild snows fly
when they meet with an obstacle mount to the sky
so up to the barns my Ranger did flew
with its bed full of hay, and oh yeah me too!

But then in a twinkling I slid way back down
Sideways and backwards and turned right around
I hit the gas and my brake, and wheeled my truck
Managed to back in without hitting a duck

I spoke not a word, but went straight to work,
And pulled all the haybales, giving each bale a jerk.
Lugging them up the hill one by one
Walking down for the next one, on ice! What fun!

In one way I was lucky, my truck was small
the back only held 10 bales in all
the turkeys in the barn now would call me from within,
I wished they had thumbs, how much help I’d have then!

Sheep and goats in the pasture would baa on cue
If only I could get them to help too!
But soon I was done, and sat down with a whistle
pulled weeds from my coats as I was covered in thistle

I scratched my head and took off my hat
slapped my knee, and said, “well that’s that!”
The neighbors may have heard me, words flew from my mouth
Happy New Year’s to all, Next year I’m moving down south!”

All summer, Gary has been busy stacking piles of firewood in the woods. We can bring the tractor with the wood trailer and easily fill it up, and split more wood too. We do this about every weekend.

Today we had some extra help. Meet Gracie.

Gary found Gracie for free on Craigslist yesterday. She is a Treeing Walker/Blue Heeler mix, and so much like his last dog Blue.

After Hank, it feels a little too soon for me to have a dog in the house, but seeing Gary’s face when he met Gracie, I knew she would be coming home with us.

She’s not too sure about the horses, or the cattle, the sheep or the goats. She stays on her leash when the birds are out, but eagerly runs around off leash when the birds are cooped.

Today she ran around so much, exploring every nook and cranny she found, yet she stayed close and came when called. What a good girl! And then she slept all the way home from the woods. In fact, she sleeping now by the wood stove.

She really is an amazing bundle of joy and energy! I am hoping she can overcome her fear of our other 4-legged critters, and that I can overcome my own fears. Welcome Gracie!

And no, I am not talking about the 7 new fluffball chicks. (Though, aren’t they cute? I love baby chickens.)

I put out the birdfeeders and suet. The feeder is supposed to be squirrel-proof. It is a tube within a tube: when enough weight gets on it, the outer tube slides down to cover up the seed holes. I’ll let you know how it goes! So far I am attracting more and more chickadees daily, the ever-present cardinal pairs, goldfinches (who aren’t so gold anymore) and LBJs. LBJs are Little Brown Jobs which sometimes defy classification. We have plenty of pileated woodpeckers around here – I have never seen them at feeders – as well as smaller woodpeckers and nuthatches that I hear all around but they have yet to visit the suet. I love watching all of the birds!

If you are like my husband, you might think this blog has too many turkey pictures, even for this time of year.

So I give you ducks!

And a crowing rooster!

Baby chicks were born this week.

I cleaned out the freezers this weekend to prep for all the beef we are picking up in a few days. We people can taste freezer burn, but to chickens, even stuffed cabbage that is 2 years old is a tasty treat.

This rooster looked up so quickly when I took pictures, his wattles were a-flyin!

If you read this blog and are interested in local, grassfed beef, and want to be on our mailing list, drop me an e-mail. We do a weekly delivery to Cornell of our beef, pork and eggs.

Last spring I alluded to an incident with Hank but I never elaborated. May 4, Hank attacked me and I was bitten several times. I had over 100 stitches to close up the wounds. I am still dealing with the aftermath but I know that in time I will be ok. Patience is not one of my strengths!

I had raised Hank since a pup and this incident certainly broke our bond. I was home alone and had to call 911. It was that moment that I knew I could not keep Hank, and no one would be safe with Hank. Regardless of the trigger, an attack like he carried out was crazed, uninitiated, and brutal, and I could not imagine anyone else living with a time bomb like that dog.

Hank was moved to the other farm and Gary has been responsible for his care ever since. I have seen him once since the incident, and it chilled me. Just chilled me.

Yesterday, Hank was put down. In some ways I have closure. Finally.

We moved Toby out to the new farm about a month ago. He is in with the horses.

They pick on him a little bit so he usually has to grab some hay when they are not around.

He likes it when their grain spills on the floor of the barn. He doesn’t mind cleaning it up for us.

We moved the portable fencing around today. Toby likes the new grass.

Keiko and Mud Duck have taken over the hay feeder anyway.

We are still getting a handle on working things at the new farm. Last time we loaded up a steer, it was easy. He was very tame. Gary could get him to stand on a ball and juggle plates if he wanted to.We did not have to plan much for that one at all.

But the two steers (Angus-Hereford cross and a Hereford-Simmental cross) we loaded this past week were something else. Fence-jumping, charging, crazy and unsure of what we were trying to get them to do.

Enlisting the help of our brothers-in-law, we built a chute in the barn that led to the trailer. We had a moment where one of the steers burst through that piece of plywood you see like he just had a makeover on a daytime talk show, but with take 2, both steers ran down the chute and were safely ensconced in the trailer. I think we all sighed with relief when that door slammed.

And down the road we went.