Apifera Farm - where art, story, animals & woman merge. Home to artist Katherine Dunn

Apifera Farm is a registered 501 [c][3]. #EIN# 82-2236486

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©Katherine Dunn.





Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Conversing with a goat



"Where are your words?" Stella asked me.

"I seem to be saving them." I replied.

"For what? Today is a day, tomorrow might not come, let's tell the stories now," the goat said.

"I am resting my word area. I need to refill my well. My wings are slightly bent. My paint spots are arranged on the wall and I don't feel compelled to rearrange them just yet," I said.

"We are aging," Stella said. "My escape routines feel heavy. The fence taunts me less and less, all I want seems to be on this side of the wood posts."

"I guess we are more content to sit still and gestate," I said.

"Like old hens on our eggs," Stella responded.

Her ears caught the wind and she sauntered off to nap.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Announcing: Art Workshops at Apifera



"Capturing the Essence...with donkeys at your side"
Taught by Katherine Dunn at Apifera Farm
One hour west of Portland, Oregon

Quite the chatter, observe, then draw from the inside out. Drawing or being an artist is not a pre-requisite. Observing the donkeys in nature will connect you to your own feelings and awaken your own sense of the power of quite observation. Drawing will deepen your feelings for the creatures and nature at hand, and open you up to what is really speaking to you internally. We'll also share Katherine's fresh homemade pie! All materials are provided.


Learn all the details >

Friday, May 27, 2011

Awaiting the rose



The barn waits patiently as does the cat. The rose is in no hurry either. It is only my species that wants to rush nature along to a preconceived place of what things should look like here in the Northwest as May comes to an end.

Have you ever heard a worm ask, "When is this rain going to end?" Doubtful. Most of you have not taken time to talk to a worm. Admit it. Every morning I save the drowning worms out of the water buckets by the barn, tossing them into the dirt and compost to thrive. Of course moments later a chicken will come along and eat one or two.

"Thank you for rinsing the worms for me," Chicken Named Dog says, "I prefer them without grit."

I can't be above nature. I have to be like the barn and go about my daily chores of nurturing with my soul and when the roses do bloom, I'll stand in front of them, amazed, and declare,

"My God, you've returned to me."

Monday, May 23, 2011

Pino's annual Porta Potty Pitch!



You heard Pino, if you'd like to help, he's fine with that, but if you don't, that's okay too. We'd also like to thank Stella for taking time out from her morning to participate, free of charge. Pino Pie Day is an annual fundraiser at Apifera Farm where art, lavender and donated aprons are sold to raise money for needy and senior donkeys and creatures. Katherine shares her homemade pie.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Ode to two tails


Inspired by my daily meandering up Muddy Hill with my chocolate companions.


You always are the first to get there

 to the top

you climb the mound of earth

out of an inner urging

worrying not about the thistle below

your feet

but just to move and breathe in

the smells of creatures deep inside their holes


One tail becomes two

And I watch both as they disappear to a gravel road below

the road that takes me in and out

and lifts us up again to the arms of the old barn

where donkeys stand by, attentive,

understanding where we arrived from




Thursday, May 19, 2011

A message from Granny



Granny has lived with comments her whole life about her unusual teeth. She finally asked me if she could share this message.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Nonchalant arrangements



Upon arriving home one day, I unloaded a gallon bucket of pincushion flower, and tossed it in a white bucket sitting by a saddle. It immediately reminded me of something Matisse had said - that when he painted a still life of flowers, he gathered them in vase and avoid fuzzing with the arrangement, finding it to be closer to nature's spontaneity.

I felt that way about this arrangement. There was something so pleasing about it with the English daisies in the background and I couldn't have rearranged it any better. It was such a simple, quiet moment that I had all to myself.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

We have a winner!



Thank you to each kind and young at heart person who played along. As you'll see from the video, picking the winner took some skill. Brays of love go out to: Donna L., Dreama, Hannah/Sofie/Lisa, Stephanie P., Kathy B. [our reigning 2010 Porta Potty Queen], Lisa R., Sharon S. and Jubell, Clare J. [all the way form Ireland], Christine A., Lisa H., Lawrence N., Brenda M., Emma P., Nicole V., Ruth L, Michael W, Stephanie P., Susan W., Delisia, Pam Z, Rhonda B., Turquoise Cro, Elida W., and Gaye G.

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Mother in all forms



Today we honor the mothers of the world, in all shapes and sizes - mothers that have returned to the Earth to continue to nurture life and mothers that are still with us, as my own mother is at age eighty-five.

Friday, May 06, 2011

Hoof stomps! Brays! It's a newsletter!



Like you need yet another way to get news about all of us here at Apifera, I have plunged into writing a newsletter. I know there are so many links and sites on the blog that things can lost or go unnoticed. So the newsletter will showcase a couple items, art, sales, animal excitement and...more. And you can always opt out...sniff.

View the first issue and sign up if you desire.

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

What's wrong with this picture?



I think goats just know when the two footer has a fever and can barely make it to the barnyard for morning feedings for that is when said goat decides it's the right moment to lodge her head into a gate.

Granny, the swinging senior we recently adopted from New Moon Goat Farm along with Wilbur the Acrobat Goat, has lodged her head in no less than three spots in the last week. Always for a very good reason, I might add. Just when everything is going smoothly in the barnyard with goat escapes down to zero, well, that's when it's time to bring on a new goat.

When Granny first arrived in February, she was sweet, but I didn't have a good feeling for her true personality. It was wet and rainy then, leaving me with no desire to sit outside with the goats and watch their true selves emerge.

But with the sun and warm weather arriving, the little granny has shown more of her spit fire self. She is thin in stature, allowing her neck to squeeze through many small spaces. Unfortunately her head is attached to the other end and that is usually where I come in. If I get to the barnyard and all the goats are there but Granny, I call out to her, hear a bleat, and find her lodged somewhere nearby. Her enticement is consistent- food. Even one drop of food. She is always very cooperative in the release, and seems quite relieved when each rescue operation is over.