. It's been a really long time since I posted an update on Our Tiny Farm. It's been an interesting and busy time as we continue to work through our transition from a very small working family farm with crops, bees, and animals to something more suitable to two mature adults who don't want to work quite so hard anymore. Last time I posted, we only had our two donkeys, Chester and Meadow, and an "unintentional" hive of bees. Well, it's still that way. The photo above is of Meadow in her blue coat and Chester in his red coat last winter. You all know what a beehive looks like, so no pic of that.
We had a population explosion in February and March as we helped some friends as they adopted two mini-donkeys and a mini-horse. Meet Wilson, Forrest, and Harold in the photo above. They settled in very quickly.
Harold the mini-horse is quite the character! He tried to be the alpha of the herd, but he was no match for the donkeys. He reluctantly accepted his position in the herd and everyone got along well. These three stayed with us for about a month and a half while their new "parents" finished up the fencing and paddock for them on their own little farm. The three of them are now at their forever home and we follow their antics on social media.
So, now we are back to just our two donkeys and that has created an unexpected problem. We have never had so few animals on our farm, and that means there is WAY too much grass for the donkeys to eat. The paddock area, which was always our sacrifice area and had little for the donkeys or horses to eat, became as lush as the pastures. So the donkeys have put on some weight which is really not healthy for them. We now limit their pasture time even more than before, weigh the nightly hay and provide it in a slow-feed hanging hay ball, and keep the paddock closely mowed. Meadow also wears a grazing muzzle anytime she is on the pasture. We are strongly considering making the paddock all gravel.
It was an interesting spring and summer here with extremely high temperatures and an extended drought followed by days of endless rain. The donkeys handled it well. They have fans in their barn and access to fresh, cool water at all times, and the fly masks keep the flies and gnats out of their eyes and ears.
I have been working to increase the donkeys exercise now that they don't have pasture friends to run and play with. In the picture above, you can see the rubber chicken I got them sitting on top of their treat tin. There are lots of fun videos of other donkeys playing with squeaky rubber chickens, so I bought two of them. My donkeys LOVE toys of all sorts. BUT they are terrified of these squeaky rubber chickens. They won't get near them. I still use them to exercise the donkeys, though. I throw the chickens and the donkeys run!
Because of all the unusual weather conditions across the nation, a hay shortage is predicted for the coming year. It felt very good to get enough hay put up early for our two donkeys. If we board any donkeys this coming year, arranging for adequate hay for the boarders will be part of the agreement!
With donkeys, we know to expect the unexpected. Like the morning a few weeks back when I walked out of the house and saw the donkeys on the pasture! We put the donkeys in the double-fenced paddock at night for protection (from coyotes, dogs, and bears); so they should not have been on the pasture. Well, I found the pasture gate on the far side of the barn standing open (we rarely use that gate) and two donkeys with HUGE grass bellies looking at me with little smirks on their faces. We have no idea how they got that gate open.
I just thought this was an interesting picture from the barn camera one evening. Hubby was in the tack/feed room filling the hay ball, and Chester had followed him in and his shadow was reflected on the barn floor.
We love our two little donkeys, but it is clear to me that they need the company and stimulation of having additional donkeys or horses on the farm. So in the coming months, I need to spend more time with a business consultant and a CPA to figure out how to set up our business to be in good order for taxes and insurance, lower our risk, and be profitable. We definitely want to offer boarding again and donkey visits from time to time. But after our first small business consultations, we learned that the structure we had been working under for 17 years, put us under too much risk. I hope to fix that soon.
Recently someone asked us what else we are growing on the farm. Right now we don't have any other crops or animals on the farm. With everything else going on in our lives (mine in particular), that has been good. But I am looking to maybe partner with some nearby farm or someone without their own land to make use of parts of Our Tiny Farm that we aren't currently using. Doesn't make sense to me to be mowing a pasture! Hope you have a wonderful autumn and get to enjoy sunsets like the ones we are so blessed to have often here in western North Carolina.