Lucky's Diet is going well

When we adopted Lucky, our rescue mini-donkey, he had foundered and was life threateningly obese. We have been working to limit Lucky's calorie intake. This requires separating him from Comet the horse during meal times. Lucky is making good progress, although he still has some pounds to shed.

Lucky is also developing a fan club. After all he is really darn cute and appreciates some good pets & brushing.

Sharing Spring Kale

Today Chris delivered 12 bunches of Kale (washed and bagged) to the McCleary Food Bank. They were excited to receive donations of fresh local produce.

Kale is an extremely nutritious vegetable! Kale is loaded with substances that can help protect against cancer, cataracts, emphysema, and arthritis. It is packed with Beta-Carotene and Vitamin C to promote healthy vision and reduce the risk of many forms of cancer.

Kale is super easy to grow in the northwest and is most productive in the spring and fall, although some years it will grow all year long. The variety I grow was given to me by my friend Jesse. If you would like some seeds just ask. I have plenty to share.

Steam for 3-5 minutes or until the thicker stems become tender. Serve with salt and lemon or lime for best flavor.

This Kale was locally grown on Jessica and Chris ’s small farm without any pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers.

Spring is Here

Check out all of our beautiful early spring bulbs.

We are really enjoying the raised beds that we built in front of our house and filled with assorted bulbs.

Fruit Orchard

We are excited to announce the arrival and planting of 9 new fruit trees. 3 Cherry (Bing , Rainer and another) 3 pear (Comice, Bosc, Asian) 2 Plums (Italian and Satsuma), and a Golden Crisp apple. The apple is planted next to our neighbors apples so it has trees to cross-pollinate with. We bought them bare root from a small nursery outside of Tumwater, WA. As soon as we got the trees home we buried the roots in our compost pile to keep them moist until we planted them the next day. We are thankful that our neighbors let us barrow their gas powered auger to help dig the holes, as some of them had large root structures. We also mixed in horse manure compost in the planting holes. As you can see most of the trees are at least 5-6 feet tall.

New fencing in action

I am so happy with how well this fence turned out. It is the 5' tall 2"X4" No-climb wire horse fence on round wood posts spaced ever 1o feet. We were lucky to get connected with Josh, who had a great technique for bracing the corner and gate posts in a way that made them very solid, even in this wet March ground. He used a 4X4 as a cross piece. He cemented it in at the base and used a large nail to secure it at the top. Josh's bracing method worked way better than the cross wire and rail across the top we have used in the past.

New fence

I am so excited to have a new, solid, horse-safe fence surrounding the back pasture and paddocks. It is nice and tight to the ground so it keeps dogs out/ in also. This was a big investment, but I think it will be well worth it.

Getting ready for spring

New pink Muck Boots-- My belated Valentines day present. I am ready to get out there and work on the farm. Photos of newly fenced back pasture coming soon. Donkey paddock also in progress.