The Donkey Pasture In-Progress

Cheryl made a good point yesterday that I gave you a look at the house progress, but haven’t shown much of the donkey pasture.

I think my excuse is that, while the house is still a bit of a disaster, you can see some progress. Whereas the pasture and yard look worse by the day. (I’ve got my fingers crossed that we’ll be able to find someone to grade out the yard soon.)

This is what the side yard looked like before… basically it was a wheat field.

DSC_0713

Here it is now from a slightly higher vantage point (since I climbed to the top of the excavation pile to get this shot.)

DSC_0969

I installed the 80 feet of split rail fence and we also strung the wire fence for the rest of the pasture last winter. Then the donkey barn was finished last spring before we brought the girls home from Texas.

Just last week we extended their electric fence around the mess of wood in our back yard so they could keep the grass down in that area. And also because they just think it’s fun to explore somewhere new.

DSC_0974

Incidentally, this is the place where the cat usually plays when he’s allowed outside. He was less than amused at the addition of two donkeys to his playground.

DSC_0975

We’re taking baby steps towards friendship.

DSC_0978

Or mutual distrust.

Here’s the front half of the side yard, also with electric fence for optimal donkey mowing:

DSC_0970

Some of our future plans for beautifying the property include:

  • Siding the donkey barn (the gray primer was for weather protection)
  • Smoothing out the berm in the front and planting some pine trees
  • Extending a fence around the entire property (including house) so the donkeys can hang out closer to our patio
  • Planting fruit trees
  • Creating a natural swimming pool
  • Using the big pile of wood to create a garden fence around my vegetable patch
  • Lolling about

While we’ll try to get to some of those before next winter, we obviously have our hands full with indoor projects for quite a while too.

6 Responses

    1. I’m hoping one day to have a little cat saddle so he can ride around on their backs. That might be wishful thinking…

  1. Those are two cute beasties! My gosh! As if building a house wasn’t enough, you’ve got a lot of outdoor designing! Looking forward to the updates & hope you had a blessed Easter weekend!

  2. Yay – donkey pictures!

    Obviously never a dull moment around your house – good luck getting the cat to tolerate the donkeys. Maybe when the construction chaos is less the stress level will go down and they can all get along with each other.

    1. I have 2 jennies, age 2, and got 3 kittens as potential mousing barn cats. The donkeys have an indoor stall with a manger for hay and open door out to pasture. We discussed the new kittens over feeding, when I brought the kittens. They donkeys appeared to understand the kittens belonged to “mom” and to be nice to them. I held the kittens and let the donkeys smell them. Appeared to work, as the kittens grew up using dried donkey poos as soccer balls in their pen. And catching mice, of course. May be useful to start the relationship when both are young.

  3. The pasture looks great! I’m sure once it’s done it will look even better. Lewis Mill Farms is the only other pasture for Mini Donkeys that I’ve come across but I love your blog!

Comments are closed.

I'm not interested in a mediocre life. I'm here to kick ass or die.

(formerly DIYdiva.net)