Critters in the Snow

I have no idea what my ponies enjoy about standing around outside when the snow starts flying. Even though they have access to shelters, their thick double coats seem to provide enough protection that they often prefer to brave the elements than stay sensibly inside. That’s Bonny to the right and Brio closer to the camera. Note that Brio has inherited her mother’s glorious broad rump.

Frances, on the other hand, has it all figured out. She burrows into her deep pile of hay, makes a nest, and snoozes until either a) more food arrives or b) the weather improves.

 

 

Nosmo and King (the Kashmir goats) have such a thick layer of soft insulation that the snow takes forever to melt even after they come inside the barn. Mind you, the goats are far less likely to venture outside in inclement weather. This afternoon, they saw me coming with the hay and decided to trot out into the blizzard to meet me at the gate.

 

 

Pippi is just confused by the snow. She thinks it should be fun to eat, play with, roll in, dive into – and then she’s shocked when she winds up chilled to the bone. This, however, leads to a very entertaining reunion with the couch after she gets back to the house. She digs furiously at the blanket, fluffs up the pillows, dives under the pillows, spins around in place six times, wipes her face on the blanket and then repeats the whole process a couple of times before flaking out with a huge sigh.

A classic from the archives…

I’ve spent the last couple of hours searching for any photos of mountains in winter that I might have lurking on my hard drive (needed for a project I’m working on)… Because my filing system leaves something to be desired, this means I’ve been scrolling through about 50,000 or so images – my head is about to explode! But along the way, I’ve stumbled on a few random photos I’d totally forgotten about including this one of me in a cupcake pink dress and bonnet (!!) reading one of my books to the lovely Miss Emma. Emma is no longer with us, alas, but I have quite a charming set of photos of the pony reading various horsey books…

Goats! Destroyers of Brambles!

Running east-west along our north property line is a spectacular stand of thorny blackberries. While this might be considered the neighbour’s problem, in fact, this bramble patch has made my goats very, very happy.

I had read about fences like these being used by commercial goat-aided-brush-removal services in the USA (apparently there are goat herders down there who have contracts with places like national parks and highway maintenance departments) but had never seen one until one showed up at our local Buckerfield’s feed store.


Easily installed, amazingly tangle-free, we hooked the goat barricade into my electric horse fencing and, voila – the goats were contained and happily set to work.

All four goats have been gobbling away at this project. Not only are they steadily removing the pesky blackberries, they are also pruning the row of cedars along the property line and merrily fertilizing the newly revealed grass as they go.

Our goats are browsers rather than grazers, so though they might have a taste of grass every now and then, their preference is to munch on the bushes, shrubs, and prickly things that had created a complete wilderness thicket.

Goats are happy. Neighbours are happy. I am happy.

I love my power tools!

I must say that using a power grinder is much, much easier than filing a hunk of steel by hand! Toryn (a most helpful friend of Dani’s) and I modified the brown horse trailer so the dividers from

the blue horse trailer would fit. At least, we’ve accomplished most of what we need to do. The bottom pins are only temporarily anchored. Toryn (I’m not kidding when I say he’s helpful) is going to make a pair of mounting brackets into which the lower pins will slip. Meanwhile, though, we can comfortably load three horses and keep them all safely separated while on the road! Most excellent!

Welcome to Dark Creek Farm

Bonny and Brio, summer 2009

Dark Creek Farm is a hobby farm on the Saanich Peninsula of Vancouver Island, near Victoria British Columbia. We have a Section D welsh cob, a hackney x section D, and a Section D x Gypsy Vanner, a miniature horse who is in 4-H learning to drive, goats (kashmere, alpine, and Nigerian Dwarf), Muscovy Ducks, dogs, cats, hogs, and produce. We use our goats for fibre,  dairy, and brush clearing and will be expanding into Icelandic sheep, chickens, and other projects through 2012 and beyond. Please check back over the next few months for updates.