Freethought Farm

20/11/2023

The flock follows me up to the barn sometimes.

05/11/2023

Picked up the winter’s food for the goats.

04/11/2023

I knew the goats ate hackberry leaves, but didn’t realize the donkeys did, too!

28/10/2023

I got this new enclosure, but we didn’t have it strapped down to the trailer well enough, and it started dragging on the ground after one of the pipes broke. Kelly went to get some two by fours to help me prop it up and in the meanwhile, I’m waiting behind the construction site of the new Buckys!

24/10/2023

It’s a donkey dawn!

23/10/2023

We had a blast at the third Freethought Festival with , , , , , , and others.

24/09/2023

I set up this trail cam to keep an eye on the coyote who has been “visiting.” However, I have found many interesting pictures since then. A couple of roosters fighting, a couple of donkeys fighting, a great picture of a crow, and some little kitty who is visiting at night.

16/09/2023

https://freethoughtdonkeys.wordpress.com/2023/09/16/socks-and-frilly/

Daryl died over spring break, leaving his brother, also named Daryl, quite lonely.  It was suggested by many people that Daryl might need a friend, or two, or three.  These well-meaning p…

12/09/2023

With all the dry weather, the pasture just hasn’t been growing. I also haven’t had a lot of free time to mow. Problems solved!

01/09/2023

A view from the loft.

28/08/2023

Now that I installed the trail cam, I know why I’ve lost so many chickens this year. I present Freethought Farm’s Public Enemy #1!

26/08/2023

We got a little load of watermelon rinds!

13/08/2023

What a beautiful day at Freethought Farm, a great day for E2 and DQ to take center stage!

11/08/2023

Good news: lots of new chickens ready for the range.
Bad news: I’m pretty sure 8 of the 10 are roosters!

10/08/2023

Frilly was ready for her close-up.

09/08/2023

Bad Mama is done with brooder and ready to party!

05/08/2023

I pulled into my driveway the other day, and I was like what was this! Someone had left a skid steer in my field. I guess the new neighbors had rented one and the people dropping it off didn’t want to take the tight curve in the driveway and so they just dropped it off there. It was gone the next day.

16/07/2023

Well, this is a new one! Goats sleeping with the chickens. Daryl was out in the yard. I’m guessing these guys saw the chickens heading home and decided to followed.

14/07/2023

https://freethoughtdonkeys.wordpress.com/2023/07/14/bad-mama-and-the-38-eggs/

I named Big Mama because she was the only one who sat on eggs.  When she first sat on them, I’d had two black hens that looked exactly the same, so I can’t be 100% sure that it’s the same one …

09/07/2023

https://freethoughtdonkeys.wordpress.com/2023/07/09/larry-daryl-and-daryl/

There were once three goats on Freethought Farm, or at least that’s what I’m told.  Gayle left me only two Nigerian Pygmy goats, both named Daryl.  One of my Daryls was all white, the oth…

09/07/2023

Three generations of Freethought chickens. (Well, maybe three groups is a better way of stating it). Hennifer, on the left, Graybeak and his girls, and the second newest set, still in their coop.

05/07/2023

Daryl and I wish you a happy 4th of July.

04/07/2023

Graybeak leads the youngest flock of chickens at Freethought Farm. These are marans from CoOp, born at the end of March.

21/06/2023

I did a whole photo shoot of Big Eagle and Easter trying to get one with Sonya in it as well. She was constantly hiding behind them!

🐔

20/06/2023

This year’s chicks from CoOp are mostly grown up and exploring their world this week!

11/06/2023

https://freethoughtdonkeys.wordpress.com/2023/06/11/lucky-and-darkwing/

A few days ago, I found Dollop dead in the coop.  She’d had a bound egg and it had killed her.  That left only Darkwing and Lucky in the trees.  I’ve lost too many chickens in May.&n…

04/06/2023

https://freethoughtdonkeys.wordpress.com/2023/06/04/a-bad-month-for-chickens/

May was a horrible month for the flock of Freethought Farm.  Everything started well.  I had the nine Red Coop chickens.  I’d started with 11, and considering the one had broken her …

17/05/2023

Know where your eggs come from, and buy local.

The 17 hens and four roosters of Freethought Farm have around 6 acres of pasture to run and play in. eight of them live in the deluxe 32 square foot coop that I built, ten of them live in a smalle…

17/05/2023

These are professional donkeys; they’re out standing in their field.

07/05/2023

Easter, Big Mama, and Backyard Barred visited me on the porch. They almost always come running to meet me when I step out. Someday I need to get that on film.

04/05/2023

Hanging with the eagles today. Close to the end!

02/05/2023

Just like Daryl, the donkeys were eating the downed trees I cut over the weekend.

08/04/2023

https://freethoughtdonkeys.wordpress.com/2023/04/08/the-upstart-crow/

The story of the chickens at Freethought Farm continues, in this update. First, the sad news.  Hen Solo, my beloved Rhode Island Red these past three years has disappeared, as had my precious,…

21/03/2023

https://freethoughtdonkeys.wordpress.com/2023/03/20/daylight-savings-time/

I used to love Daylight Savings Time. I think most people do. The long, light evenings afford people the time to practice sports, go on walks, or just enjoy the fact that there is still natural l…

23/02/2023

https://freethoughtdonkeys.wordpress.com/2023/02/22/mud-on-the-farm/

Mud was everywhere throughout January. Thick, viscous mud. It clung to my boots, it weighed down the chickens, it was caked on the eggs. In the morning I would see Bella and the goats’ prints in…

14/01/2023

https://freethoughtdonkeys.wordpress.com/2023/01/14/tree-birds-free-birds/

But What About the Cold? The cold descended on Freethought Farm in the days leading up to Christmas.  It was the coldest day in decades in Tennessee, and certainly the coldest I’d seen since I…

17/12/2022

https://freethoughtdonkeys.wordpress.com/2022/12/17/the-life-and-death-of-chickens/

The Life and Death of Chickens Chickens come and chickens go.  I could write a graph of the number I’ve had in my two and a half years at Freethought Farm.  When I got back from Europe, I…

10/11/2022

https://freethoughtdonkeys.wordpress.com/2022/11/09/chickens-who-live-in-trees/

Of all the new chickens who came to the farm this year, Darkwing and Dollop are the only two out of this new batch who were born there.  Several more of them, like Lemon Pepper, Inkwell, and K…