Every farm with animals works out it’s own drill for storms, cows just go outside and eat in the snow, donkeys and sheep are different. In storms like the one going on now, we feed the animals under shelter in the Pole Barn. Animals like donkeys and sheep do not like to be confined, they want and need fresh air, the Pole Barn was a good compromise, at the first Bedlam Farm and at this one, they have shelter from the snow, ice and wind, and they adapt to their environments.

The donkeys go to one end of the barn and eat hay out of buckets, the sheep go to the other and eat out of their feeder, which we bring into the barn in storms. The sheep and the donkeys go back and forth, but they get out of one another’s way, everybody seems to get what they need. Simon is the only food grump we have, if the sheep or donkeys go to close to his bucket, he’ll put his head down and snort and kick at them. I can’t blame him, food has real meaning for him. The other animals have always had enough food, they don’t fight over it.

We have five or six inches, more expected, we’ll see. I want to get to the Round House today, there are rumors of chicken soup with rice, my grandmother is smiling down on them.