Ken, Nikki and Eli get Jesus ready

  November 27, 2008 – Cold, dry. So Jeannette and Jesus left Bedlam Farm today for West Pawlet, Vt., where they will live with Ken, Eli and Nikolina. Ken Norman is a friend and a farrier who loves donkeys and horses and who knows my donkeys well. Jesus was something of an accident, because I didn’t know Jeannette was pregnant, and I have always thought two donkeys are enough for a small farm.
  Ken has a wonderful way with these animals, and I have come to know him well on the farm, and through his great care of Lulu, Fanny, Jeannette and Jesus.
  I loved the idea of Nikolina growing up with donkeys, and that idea was reinforced when the Normans arrived and plopped their three-year-old on Jesus’s back and he seemed to love it. When city people come to visit the farm, they approach the donkeys as if they were radioactive, warning their kids to stay away and rushing off to apply anti-bacterial soap. Ken and Eli have a different philosophy. Nikolina rode on the donkeys’ backs and walked them out to Ken’s trailer. I am sorry to see Jeannette and Jesus leave, but glad they are going with Ken and his family. Lulu and Fanny were here together before Jeannette and Jesus.
 Lulu had a tough time when Jeannette and Jesus left. She brayed repeatedly and kept rushing to the fence where she had last seen them, and seemed agitated and bewildered. She has calmed down tonight.
  A farm is an organic and evolving place and this is a time for it to evolve again, in ways I haven’t yet quite worked out, but feel instinctively.

Saying goodbye. Jeannette and Jesus head for Vermont. They are wonderful creatures, and I feel good when I think of their life there.