Dinkus Watch 2013

Well... it's that time of year here on the farm. Our lambs are born in the spring, but summer is all about baby donkeys. Not just baby donkeys, but baby MINIATURE donkeys! They are by far one of the most adorable little tiny critters you will ever see. Last summer, four of our girls; Bell, Holiday, Lovey and Scarlet had a date with our man Coke and we have reason to believe that over the next few months we will be blessed with 4 little babies. So... that leads us to the question of the day... What is a DINKUS??
Three years ago when Bell was bred for the first time, we all watched and waited as she got bigger and bigger and bigger and BIGGER until she was "3 donkeys wide" and we knew the little blessing was almost fully cooked and ready to pop out. My dad, who was then in his 80s and did a lot of what we liked to call "armchair farming" (think of your armchair quarterback), asked a question we didn't know the answer to: What do you call a baby donkey? well.... hmmmm.... well.... uh... I don't know. A baby sheep is a lamb. A baby horse is a foal. A baby cow is a calf. A baby donkey is a....
"A DINKUS", Dad says quite emphatically. A baby donkey is a dinkus. Well, now I'm pretty sure if you google it you'll find out that a baby donkey is also called a foal because it's assumed that all hoof-stock in the equine family share that name, but I'm not going to argue with a WWII vet in his 80s about it! So we began Dinkus Watch 2010. As usual, all you have to do is make plans to go somewhere and the farming universe throws you a curveball! Bell gave birth on October 23rd, 2010 to a tiny little gray dun jack about 3 hours before we needed to be on an airplane to Chicago to see the LAST performance of my husband's favorite band, Cross Canadian Ragweed at Joe's on Weed St. We had this planned for months. The band was "taking a break" (we all know that means breaking up) and we were going to be there for the last hurrah.
Well... at least we had a name! We knew we would call him Ross Farm Cross Canadian Ragweed! Weed, for short.

The following year we were blessed with another dinkus! Holiday had a late night rendezvous with Coke and we got an adorable little SPOTTED jack who looked just like a coke float so we named him Vanilla Coke. 

This year, we are really hoping for a baby girl dinkus, but we will love them no matter what they are. If you've never spent time with a donkey, you should get that on the bucket list ASAP. They are, by far, one of the coolest critters on the planet. Our minis are less than 32" tall, so they are more like big dogs than horses.

Oh well... better head to the barn. It's time for Dinkus Watch 2013!

I promised I would blog... here goes nuthin'!

If we haven't met, let me fill you in on who I am and what kind of weird, wonderful, odd, inspiring, challenging, strange journey I'm on... I've been happily married to my wonderful husband "Scooterpie" for nearly 7 years now and he's the co-pilot on this. I know GOD is supposed to be my co-pilot, but let's just assume he's somewhere in the vehicle, but Scooterpie is riding shotgun, ok?
We live on an historic farm in Southwestern Pa, which has been in my family for over 100 years. Neither one of us were raised on a farm. He lived in the country but me... I grew up in town. We visited the farm every weekend and had dinner with my mother's uncle who lived out here and helped with hay and livestock as needed, but I was raised in town. About 20 years ago, Uncle passed away and left the place to my mother and the adventure started to slowly ramp up. I got more involved in the day-to-day-operations out here since my parents were both over 60, but I lived in town. I went to college (twice), had a son, had a career...
Five years ago, their health had deteriorated to the point that we were totally running the place (while being primary caregivers) with their input and guidance, but I lived in town and worked full-time as a non-profit executive, writing grants and attending luncheons in my little suits by day and wrasslin' sheep and tractors in my much boots in the evenings and on weekends.
About then I realized we needed to start working smarter, not harder, and changed our flock from a commercial crossbred meat sheep to a crew of GORGEOUS fluffy sweet wool sheep who make my life a joy. When our first Leicester Longwool ram, Mr. Jefferson, came rolling up the driveway, our lives changed forever and the fiber business began.
Now our crew includes ol' Jeff, several of his ewe friends, 9 of his beautiful baby lambs and 6 other breeds of sheep- both ewes and rams as well as the most adorable bunch of miniature horses and donkeys ever, some rare breed chickens, 3 ducks, 5 guineas and a peacock.
In 2011 we lost both my parents, in 2012 I quit my job and in 2013 I moved to the farm to assume my most challenging position ever: Chief Executive Farmer. It's going to be a wild ride... wanna come?