We had a big and long workday on the farm today, a beautiful, crisp and chilly. Our friend Ken Norman came to the farm in two roles – farrier and gate-fixer, two things he loves to do. He trimmed Lulu and Fanny’s hooves, then re-build the pasture gate, putting in a latch, raising the height of the gate, and installing two wood planks to secure.

This will make it much easier for us to enter the pasture, and nearly impossible for smart ponies or donkeys to lift the gate up or open it and get out. In the summer, Ken is way too busy to work on gates, but he has some time this time of year. He changed the bolts and screws on our problem gates.

Fences are the spine of farms with animals in so many ways. Our fences are strong, expensive and well-built, but every fence has problems at times – water erosion, persistent animal butting, loose wires that loosen fences, falling trees, freezing ground, drought or flood. Any of these things can damage a fence. This morning, two of the sheep crawled under the gate, they had nosed up the wires, which had shorted due to water damage.

Our fences are built with a back-up system. There is an electric change, but the fences are climb-proof without them, our fences have withstood falling trees, marauding bears and erratic cars. Ed Gulley came by just when we needed him, as always and help us shore up the back fence, where the sheep had nose their way into the back pasture (there is another fence out there to keep them from going anywhere.

We also began work clearing the gardens, preparing them for winter. A good, hard day, we are both wiped out. Photos to come.