Want the news from Essex Farm? Hear the update from Kristin Kimball below:
“Mark went to an auction last weekend and came home with an I&J two-horse cultivator, the newest model we’ve ever owned. It has a padded seat (!) for the driver and rubber wheels and heavy metal arms to hold the cultivating attachments. We have not hitched to it yet, but looking at it, it seems like it will offer less finesse but more durability than our old 1930s cultivators, which are highly maneuverable but lightly built.
He also bought a horse-drawn round bale mover. This useful item came up at the end of the auction when most people had already left, and he got it for a good price. It’s a very clever way to use horses and leverage to pick up a 500 lb. bale and move it, on wheels, without much effort. It will be useful during haymaking time, or when feeding round bales in the field.
And then he bought, on impulse, a small Shetland pony named Trigger. Mark is not usually an impulsive shopper, but he must have been feeling good about his purchases, and he said he was impressed at how well the little guy handled himself in the auction arena, pulling a cart in front of a crowd of 200 people. Plus, he thought he looked just the right size for our girls, ages 4 and 7, who have been sharing Abby Belle, and could really use a second pony.
So Trigger – all 10 hands of him – came home to us and joined Abby Belle in her patch of pasture in front of the house. It seems he knows how to use his small stature to his advantage. The first night, he ducked under the electric fence and went on a wild run around the farm in the dark, with Mary in high-speed illicit pursuit, and I, slow human, waving my useless fist in the air, calling whoa! And no! to anyone who would listen, which was exactly nobody….” Continue reading this Essex Farm Note.
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- Essex Farm: Readying the Fields (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Essex Farm: Bird Scaring (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Essex Farm: Nature Will Find a Way (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
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