Day: December 18, 2015

Seems this is the motto when a new bale of hay arrives – especially when the new bale is greener and softer than the older but not quite finished bale.

So this morning, rather than filling new hay bags I rolled out the centre of the bale we are finishing. This leads to a complicated game of musical chairs.

If one donkey seems to be enjoying the hay more than the others … then everybody shifts … usually because either Bella or Darby decide THEY want to try that ‘good stuff’. Below Darby is trying to tell me she wants the kind of hay I put in the hay bags yesterday. Not subtle that one!

We are blessed with a very kind hay man. When he drove by today and saw that I had put out the bale he called to see if there was a problem… Ede explained the only problem was the donkeys have me wrapped around their little … hooves. Each day I was putting out a mix of the new green hay with the more strawlike older hay …

… and each day the herd would carefully pull the tasty hay out of the bags and leave the straw behind. So today I decided to just put out the older bale – loose – for them to cavort in – climb over – lay in – and eat. You can see there is lots of good green in there. (Oh … and can you see how green our front lawn is? in December?!)

As the moon was coming up I found the herd all in the back paddock. We keep a round bale in a little barn out front and another in a similar barn out back. Everyone had decided that the meal of choice for dinner tonight …

… was the greener hay out back. It sure is a nice way to end the day. Sitting in the paddock as it gets dark. Listening to the donkeys munching away. Laughing at the squirrels chasing each other around the hickory tree. Watching the chickadees flit around to get in just a little more food before they are grounded in a tree for the night.

Goodnight from the Meadow Creatures!