Welcome to Jenness Farm!

21603_10153732037513898_3585447194789294315_nWhile we have had a very mild Winter so far, we are still doing our usual Wintery things here at Jenness Farm.  The goats and donkeys are nibbling on Christmas trees being dropped off by the customers.  We are breeding for the Spring/Early Summer babies.  This year we are going to try to reduce our footprint and decrease the number of does being bred.  This is going to be an interesting experiment, as we have to take into consideration any issues that could arise with milk production, but to be sure we still have enough milk to make product and get us through the year.  We have successfully found homes for every baby born at Jenness Farm for the last 3 years!  Not one has gone to “freezer camp”, they have all been placed in homes.  Mr. Frankie Nibbles has fathered approximately 65-70 babies over the last 3 kidding seasons.  We will be procuring a new Nubian buck in the next week, he will be bred to our two year old and three year old does who have not been bred yet.  We are excited to see the new color combinations and personalities that come through!

We are continuing to work on our plans for the new Community Barn at Jenness Farm.  Through our efforts with the Go Fund Me and our donation jar in the shop, we have collected roughly $4,500!  We are looking at other ways to improve our farm through grants and other opportunities available to NH farms.  We are so excited that every day we are closer and closer to our goal.

We now have two female and one male India Blue Peacocks who are enjoying their new digs in the barn.  If you check out the goat cam on the website, you can see them on the left side of the “In the Barn” camera.  They will spend the Winter in their stall, on their perches, becoming familiar and encoding on the barn.  We will let them out once Spring has sprung and hopefully they will stick around!  The male peacock is a super handsome guy and sure to be a beautiful sight once his tail feathers come in!

12345428_10153687860733898_4949345920536113889_nThe new hens who came to live at the farm from the Deerfield Fair have settled in wonderfully.  The tiny RI Red hen, Ted, is a cuddle bug!  But if you cuddle too close, watch your earrings!  She pecked at and swallowed my pearl earring faster than I could react!  Needless to say…we never found it.  And the mille fleur d’ucle hen, Feather, thinks she is a bunny.  She lives primarily in the rabbit stall and cuddles side by side with the buns.  It is so sweet to see different species, snuggling and living together so peacefully.  She is a smartie!  If I were a chicken, I cant imagine a warmer place to cuddle during the Winter than between two warm bunnies.

2015 was the first year that our guinea fowl were able to hatch (and successfully raise 8 free ranging babies) this has not occurred naturally at the farm in years! The 8 babies are now fairly indistinguishable from the adults.  In 2015 we said farewell to several of our animal friends…Edith, Bert, the ducks Winnie, Ichabod & Rufus, Pocahontas, Turkey the guinea fowl, Thunder (our rescue pony), Ace & Isaiah but as the circle of life goes on….we also said “hello” to several new friends and rescues.  It’s never easy to say goodbye to these sweet souls who leave their indelible mark on the farm and it’s visitors.  As always, we hope to see you at the farm!