Cider Bend-December

We had a fun December on the farm. The weather was pretty mild, so with the exception of a few days, it almost seemed like spring. We had visitors for the holidays, which is always fun. We got more settled into our house, and got the barn one step closer to being AirBnB ready. We started running with the donkeys and goats. It was just a good farm month.

Donkeys:

I let the donkeys out in the pasture, and when I went out to get them, to bring them back in the barn, Clover didn't want to leave her snacks. She just decided to bring them with her. 😂 

We had a few days early on with some snowy weather. The donkeys were very glad to be done with this walk. 😅

My cute little snow sprinkled Clover. 😊

Every night when I go into the barn to feed the animals, I have to take a quick trip upstairs to the barn apartment to get Reeses food out of the fridge. Willow makes a big protest each night about it. She does not want to wait for that nonsense before she can eat, and she makes her feelings known. 😆

Like always, stall clean out day is filled with lots of unsolicited help! 😁 Good thing we have such great supervisors.

Willow inspecting the cart.

Just helping Mark out! 😂

Making sure the scrubber is in good working order.

Helping with the squeegee.

Donkey zoomies will always be my favorite thing!

When Bailey was here, she filmed some more rubber chicken fun.

Early morning snacks in front of a beautiful sunrise. 😋

Mark had some time off work for the holidays, so we started running the donkeys off the property. They loved it so much! Not only did they love the running, but they loved being in a new place. We have a dirt road just a little ways from us, and it's the perfect place to run them. We had a lady stop in her car and tell us it was the cutest thing she has ever seen. 😁 I agree lady, I agree! You can just see their happiness in this video.

We had so much fun, we took them again the very next day! This time they went a little farther, and did a little over 3 miles.

Donkey running!

When I walk into the barn, and this is the sight that greets me, I'm instantly reminded how much I love our farm life.

She's just peeking over to say hi! 💕

We had spring like weather, with no snow on the roads, so we decided to trailer the donkeys to Wolf Flats to run them. So stinking fun! We took them 4 miles this time, and they were pooped. The last half mile back to the trailer was a very slow walk. In the spring we'll be more consistent in running them, and slowly build them up to more miles.

Clover loves running so much!

Willow loved looking at the river.

Goats:

There is nothing cuter than little goats discovering snow! Ginger's cute little prance is the best! 😄

Stall clean out day is just as fun with the goats. If there is anything new or different in their stall, you better believe they will be on it or in it. 

Ginger was queen of the wheelbarrow!

I think it's so funny that Mark just keeps on working, like they aren't even there! 😂

We had started running the donkeys, and loved it. One evening I get a video text from Mark. He was outside the pasture, and he decided to run around the outside of it to see if the goats would follow him. They did! They went around 5 or 6 times! This was the start of us running the goats too!

I had the idea the next day to let them out and see if they would follow us around the property. Mark was afraid they would scatter and just go wherever they wanted, but I was pretty sure they would stay with us. The worst that could happen is that we would have to chase goats around for a while. We gave it a try, and sure enough, they ran right with us! So funny! I'm happy to report that now the goats are in my morning walk rotation with the other animals. First I go a lap with Reeses, then a lap with the donkeys, and then a very fun lap with the goats. I do two miles every morning like this. 

Farm Stuff:

Mark texted me early in December and told me to look out the front door. There was a cattle drive going right down the Archer Highway. I love living in a small town so much!

One of my favorite things about winter is that I'm usually doing barn chores or walking animals during the sunrise. There is something really great about starting your day with a pretty sunrise. On this particular morning, it was still dark when I went out to the barn. I could instantly tell by the sky that it was going to be a great sunrise. Sure enough, within a half hour, the sky was on fire!

This is the sky that let me know not to miss the sunrise.

🔥🔥🔥

Here's a Reeses update: She's doing amazing! She goes on a .75 mile walk every single morning, and it's the highlight of her day. I take her first, because I'm pretty sure she feels like she does the rounds to check on everything on the property. She loves the cold, and the snow! I don't take her if the temperature dips below zero, but in that case, we usually just wait until a little later in the day when it warms up a tad. She's my little buddy, and I'm still amazed at how good she's doing. She went through a rough few years with losing Oreo, and having spinal cord strokes, but lately she has seemed to have found her groove. She is on permanent pain meds, and the doctor told us it's usually a matter of months that you'll lose them from that point. It's been over a year! We're just gonna keep doing what we're doing, because whatever it is, it's agreeing with her. I'm fully aware and prepared for the fact that she won't be around forever, but I truly can't imagine life on the farm without her. Here's hoping she has another year of defying the odds.

Reeses posing with a great sunrise.

😍😍😍

Since our house is done, and we moved out of the barn, we've finally been getting it set up as the working barn we envisioned instead of a storage unit for all of our stuff. We emptied out the feed room and got that functional first.

This room was filled with furniture. So nice to get it all cleaned out!

The (mostly) finished feed room!

Next we tacked the tack room. This is our only room with a door, to keep the dust out.

We still have some stuff to add to this room, but it's so much better to have a place for this stuff! 

We are currently working on the storage room, wash station, and main isle of the barn. It's slower going now, because Mark had to go back to work. Stay tuned, because hopefully it'll all be done by next month.

Here's another one of those great sunrise mornings.

Now that the canal is empty, and the weather is getting more winterish, the deer are back! I love that I see them on the property almost every day.

Running through the field during my morning chores.

Going across our backyard in the evening. I hope they still come across here once we landscape.

I see them most mornings on my walks with the animals.

Ririe Live Nativity:

Ririe does the coolest Live Nativity each year. An hour before the nativity starts, they have a Bethlehem street set up behind the park. We got to participate in that again this year. We are the 'stable' part of the street. Since we added the goats to the mix this year, we enlisted the help of Sawyer and Amanda. I had Clover, Mark had Willow, and Sawyer and Amanda were the goat wranglers. 😄 The night is always a little stressful, because they are young animals, and they are being surrounded by people (and tons of kids) for a solid hour. Once again I walked away feeling like I have the best donkeys! They did so good! Sometimes I could sense Clover getting a little bit overwhelmed, but if I just kneeled down and focused on one kid with her, she seemed to relax and do a lot better. The goats did great for their first time there too! Dolly got a little naughty and had to be put in time out. 😅 She wanted all the attention for herself, so she was being mean to the donkeys and the other two goats. Ginger and Roxie also got to be in the live nativity. They did so good! During the nativity videos below, listen carefully, and you can hear my goats! They weren't really given a speaking part, but apparently they wanted one anyways. 😆

It's pure chaos for an hour with nonstop people around the animals, so I have no opportunity to take pictures. My friend Kristy showed up, and got lots of pictures for us. So grateful for her!

Me and Clover

Sawyer with the goats.

Amanda with Roxie.

I love this picture! I love telling people about the donkeys, especially little kids!

Nora on the Farm:

Mason, Bailey, and Nora were here for a few days the week before Christmas. I posted about it in my Christmas post, but I made the cutest reel of Nora on the farm. It was my favorite part of the month!

Christmas:

The animals got spoiled for Christmas!

Festive little Clover!

A very merry Dolly!

Reeses got all her favorite Christmas treats, the goats got new beds, and Clover and Willow got a screaming chicken, and a kong toy.

Reeses loves Christmas!

The goats seem to like their new beds, but they don't quite understand them. This is how I set them up every time I go in their stall, but it doesn't lat long.

They constantly flip them upside down, or stack them on top of one another. 😜