You know how your child’s interests become part of your life? Well, that’s how it all started when my daughter became interested in horses. I was excited to share that interest because as a teenager and young adult I loved riding horses. I immediately signed her up for horseback riding lessons.
After a few horse shows we were hooked! At the time we didn’t have the space to own a horse, so we borrowed horses through her 4H group. After a few injuries I asked her if she would try a donkey. She thought I had lost my mind, but reluctantly gave it a try. We got connected to a donkey group and participated in several events and met some amazing people. As my daughter got older, and interests started to change, the equines took a backseat, but I was still hooked. When my husband purchased a home on five acres, I adopted three miniature donkeys, Ace, Wally and Deacon.
My plan was to participate in community events, but you know how plans go! Those three weren’t having it. My husband and I quickly realized instead of taking them out, we would bring the community to them. So I decided to have children and their parents come out to our house and help teach our donkeys dog agility tricks. It quickly became a hit and the donkeys were more comfortable with that plan. As time went by, my son expressed an interest in getting some chickens and starting an egg business. I agreed, but told them we needed to do some research. We knew nothing about chickens! But like I said before, you know how plans go! 😄 My husband and son just went up to Tractor Supply and bought six chicks with no plan in place, no structure, or safe place to house them. My son told me not to worry because he’s “got it.” Being the responsible pet owner that he is, he got all the supplies necessary to safely house them in our basement, while my husband got to work on their run.
Within a month, their housing area was complete and what started as six chickens grew to twelve. He did his egg business for awhile but as time passed his interests changed and he got a full-time job. By this time, I had gotten attached to all twelve and named each one of them. So now they are pets. Our little hobby farm currently consists of 3 donkeys, sadly only 6 chickens, a rabbit, 3 cats and a lizard.
