Head troll

Very few know the secret password to get past Frankie. To make matters more difficult, she changes the password weekly just because she can.

Read more posts about Franklinia, aka Frankie.

Chickweed's great adventure

"Will there be girls?" he asked.

"Yes, lots of them," I said.

"There's lots of girls here but I never seem to get as many as I feel I need," he sad rather sadly.

Chickweed is very polite. Born into our first lambing season, his mother was our beloved Rosie and his father the infamous Joe Pye Weed. He was red, which always gets extra points in my heart.

"That's why you are going on this adventure, Chick, you're going to have your own girls," I told him.

He seemed to perk up. "No sharing with T or the new guy?" he asked.

"No, you can have sex in the fall and relax winter, spring and summer," I said.

And so we said farewell to Chickweed today. He is off to live at another small farm with a very kind couple with a small flock. It always helps to like the people who haul one of your first borns off. I learned after our first lambing season to distance myself from the lamb rams, but one always has soft spots, I mean I am human and Chickweed and I are both redheads. He witnessed my early shepherd abilities and probably was thankful to just be alive, and he let me learn how to do all those lambie things one has to do, all on the fly. He trusted me to doctor up his ear and never complained once. He never rammed me - now that's a compliment.

So this breeding season, I'll be thinking of him with his gentle expression as he is introduced to his own group of ladies. I know he will be a complete gentleman.

Part of small farming is moving with the shifts that are necessary to keep the farm healthy and vibrant and that means saying good bye to animals, especially rams. I'm so pleased he is going to live in a good place to get a day in the sun, as the man. Remember, Chickweed, say "please" and "thank you".

Smiling pig

She speaks. I shan't mention what she said, it was directed to me personally.

Rosie is fitting in very well, surprisingly well. She awakens and eats breakfast, privately, so there is no need for her to rush. Then she attends to bathroom duties outside in her natural Rosie Ladies Room in the lower barnyard. She returns to her stall to receive her morning oil massage and eye clean up. Then she snorts around with Stevie in the pumpkin patch - note, we won't have a very good pumpkin harvest this year. She naps precisely on the quarter hour, every hour. And one thing I know for sure even after only 4 days....you do not want to wake Rosie up from a nap.

If Rosie looks a bit hairless to you, she is in her shedded out stage. I am new to pigs too so had to ask. She needs to have oil massages to help her dry skin, which can also burn so I'll be headed out for more sunscreen today.

I am raising some money to send to Sanctuary One with different gift levels. Feel free to contact me if you prefer to send a check.

Gift Levels

$20 No Gift $20.00 $50 Mini Book $50.00 $50 Lavender $50.00 $100 Book or Lavender $100.00 $100 No Gift $100.00

How to meet a rooster

"Chicken Jack," said the rooster as he barely stopped in front of the new arrival.

"My name is Stevie, I'm from the South. Have you been here long?" the polite goat asked.

Fishing trip for a pig

"I'm going to take you fishing," I told the Dirt Farmer.

His expression showed delight, as he hadn't had time to fish since fall. He had worked tirelessly on so many projects all winter and spring, then went right into Pie Day prep followed by field work.

"I have a little Inn all picked out and it will be my treat, " I continued.

More delight danced int he Dirt Farmer's eyes.

"We'll fish some Saturday, and all day Sunday if you want...and then Monday we'll pick up the pig," I went on.

"The pig?" he asked.

The mysterious...thing

"Prehistoric?" asked Honey Boy.

"No, more likely from the swamp," stated Wilbur.

"Ithe liketh the thail," Granny lisped.

Stay tuned....

Old goat nappin'

Going to spend the weekend old goat style, snoozin'. See you all next week, if I wake up.

Good bye, Sweet Jane

I knew she wasn't well about two days ago. I saw her standing in the coop that morning, somewhat listless. I held her for awhile and asked her if she was going to die.

Visit of the Higglebottoms

Grandmere Chat discovers two very small visitors underneath her porch one morning.

A very short story: Long ago but now

They lived together long ago, the three of them. It was in the North, way North where there wasn't land, just sky or what we call sky today.

The chicken never left her arms and she chose not to lay eggs.

They spent generations together in the North sitting on leaves, only needing the nourishment of the air. But wind blew them South over the years, encouraging the leaves to grow roots and the water appealed to the woman, chicken and donkey.

Now the chicken lays eggs. The donkey is still blue under certain atmospheric conditions, a detail the woman never fails to notice.

Sunset of ears

As the sun sets, her ears recline, softening, knowing she is safe, fed and amongst friends. It's what we can all hope for at the end of any given day.

Accepting eyes

My animals know my heart. They know the nuances of my voice and movements. At the end of a hard day, I only need look into their eyes to see their compassion. But there is a reflection in those eyes, and it is me. I stand before them worthy of receiving as well as giving.

A garden and tails fourth

Freedom is a precious thing. We'll be here enjoying our farm and each other, free to love, share thoughts and opinions, gaze at the gardens and eat food from our land.

Huck, Muddy and BW were gracious enough to assist in this little photo session for your enjoyment - The One Eyed Pug was napping inside, as were Big Tony and Itty Bitty Etta. BW never turns down an opportunity to pose though.

Mind of Mud

"Calm. Calm myself. My tail is resting so I must rest with it for only a second, a second, to calm myself, for this one second, one second."

Podcast of Katherine shining on about Pino

I had a wonderful chat with Rice Freeman-Zachery this week on her Podcast series with artists. We talked a lot about Pino Pie Day and how it all came about and how little Pino is my muse.It was a fun conversation for me and when I listened to it later I had a 'pinch me' moment. I do have to practice not saying "You know" so much!

When you name a duck

Naming the ducks has been a challenge. For starters, I've never named a duck and they are very shy around me even after a few weeks. This has allowed for only short, cocktail chatter rather than longer intimate conversation one really needs to name an animal.

Light in my heart...always

"Yesterday, not today", acrylic on paper ©K.Dunn


So many times in my life I have asked the muses to help me see what my unconscious knows. I do this by painting. If I feel very raw about something, painting lets me embrace my bones and all my organs and cells and say, "It's okay, we understand, but look at the light here, look at this heart of yours."

Honey Boy Edwards

He stands so tall that when I greet him at the gate, his back is to my waist, allowing me to hug his face without even bending over. Quite convenient for woman and goat. His beard blows in the wind like the goat version of a ZZ Top video.

May September romance

Granny and her much younger man, Wilbur the Acrobat Goat lounge together in their favorite spot. They care little for naysayers saying such a union will never last.

Introducing: Little Walter

I brought home our new ram lamb this week. What a beautiful boy he is! I named him after a blues musician since I think rams must have a lot of blues, separated from the girls so many months.

He had a traumatic day of being stuffed into a crate and then spent the afternoon in the barnyard meeting all the goats. I couldn't bare throwing him in right away with the big rams, but when I did, they were gentlemen. They took care of their own hierarchy without me.

We also said farewell to Daisy's last ram lamb who went off to breed in a small flock so I know he will have a good life. It was bittersweet though, as I have decided to retire Daisy. She came to Apifera with Rosie and Joe Pye Weed in 2004 and helped build our flock. I love her with all my heart. She has been a leader in so many ways- helping me as a new shepherdess with her calm demeanor. She has become a bit arthritic and is going on eight, so I wanted to let her spend her remaining years relaxing and grazing.

After her ram left, she kept seeking out his sound and when I brought everyone in at night I could tell she was calling for him,

"Come in now, where are you? It's time to go in, where are you?"

Watching any animal leave the farm is traumatic. Feeling the shakeup in the herd or flock is hard on everybody, but we all adjust, we all survive, we all get up the next day and do the best we can do.

Coffee klatch on a manure pile

On most early afternoons, you can find the chickens lunching at the manure pile. I sometimes join them and on a slightly cool afternoon such as we had today the warmth of the manure pile soaks deep into your bones. Not only did my bottom get all warm, I had my ears wide open for local gossip from the hens.

Collaged sewn donkeys and elephant babies

I just posted some more Raggedy Aprons at Pino's Apron Gallery.

I've been taking the illustrated fabric I make with Spoonflower, then cut and collage fabric scrap into the faces and embellish vintage aprons with them. I see this as a leaping off point to do more abstract fabric scrap work in my leisure time [chickens, goats, Frankie are all laughing in the background on hearing this.]

I also posted some raggedy folk dolls. I was in my elephant muse stage.

As usual, apron sales will go into Pino's bucket to help old animals- like Honey Boy Edwards who arrived last Friday from New Moon. You'll hear about him soon. We also have two more small packages to pick up this month sometime and then the senior menagerie will settle in to leisure activities. More on that later in the month.

Open love letter to a dirt farmer

The Dirt Farmer doesn't read my blog which gives me an enormous amount of latitude to share the inner sanctum of my love for him...or pictures of him in odd farm like poses.

As I looked out over the small sea of people at Pie Day I could hear 'Yummm" as they tasted my pie and when more than one person at a time would "Yum", it resonated in some kind of spiritual farm orchestra with the bees humming in the nearby gardens.

My Dirt Farmer was busy rushing about as I was on Pie Day and we really never came together because our roles were to host...and guide small fingers holding carrots. As I caught glimpses of him through out the day, standing next to the many structures he has built for our farm, including the Donkey Hug area and many outside "rooms', I'd get one of those "Yum-Bee-Buzz" resonances in my heart.

When the guests had all left, someone caught this picture of two middle aged dirt farmers wearing carefully selected hats sitting exactly where they belong.

A sigh after pie

Another Pie Day has left the hosts, both donkey and human, exhausted but fulfilled.

Pino gets press

A couple weeks ago the local paper asked to visit Apifera to interview me about Pie Day and my efforts to help animals in need.

It's always shocking to see yourself blown up way big, even if it is the local rag. I can only imagine the shock a movie star feels when first seeing themselves on screen. But I just adored this picture of me and Pino. There was also a nice one of Old Man Guinnias and that made me extra happy. [Photos © News Register]

The reporter wrote a fine article, and we appreciate it. There were a couple small errors, so just to be clear, Pino is not a rescue donkey but came from a loving farm right up the road a ways, as did Lucia. And while I am raising funds and awareness for our friends at Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue [all apron sales go to them this year], I do not own that Rescue.

We are very excited and still rushing like lunatics to get all the details just right for our guests. Tomorrow Pino's beloved porta potty arrives as well as our dear friend all the way from New York City. And like there wasn't enough going on, a very special elderly gentleman will be arriving too, delivered by two angels. But I will tell you all about that after Pie Day.

Healing donkey hugs are free

We are scrambling to get everything tip top for Sunday's Pino Pie Day, our 4th annual farm event where we share donkey hugs and homemade pie under the big top of the Apifera Farm sky.

Amongst chickens in awe

"Did you see the size of that egg?" she asked.

"Yes, it's ginamanous." said Henny Penny. [Note to readers: chickens often combine words.]

Old goose still has it goin' on

The woman who relinquished her old goose and ducks to me mentioned that the ducks were laying regularly and that even the old goose still lays a couple times a week. I'd never seen a goose egg until this morning.

It's big.

I thanked her and must have caught her right after the act, as she was away from her ducks and was just leaving the scene of the crime. I spied from a nearby crack in the hen house and watched Priscilla as she began dosing off, her neck slightly curved allowing her beak to rest in her wing. I'd nap too if I just laid one of those.
[In the picture, from L to R, bantie egg, Orpington egg, duck egg, Priscilla egg].

I bought the fowl gang a new temporary wading bucket today. The chicken pen is now full of buckets in a variety of sizes and colors to accommodate the ducks. It is a scene you would not see at Martha's, but then again I doubt you'd see anything from Apifera at Martha's. Martyn wants to build them a real pond in the ground, with rocks to rest on. I will be relieved when that happens, as the hens are very upset with the temporary chaos of their hen yard. They tried to schedule a meeting with me, but I said it had to wait until after Pie Day.

Yes, it's a senior citizen goose

One day you wake up without ducks, the next day you wake up with ducks, and a senior citizen goose named Priscilla.

Bird soaks in me

My new book often describes my intuitive process for "capturing the essence" of a feeling, time, creature or person. I am not sure I can say that this is always my main goal when I get up in the morning, to capture the essence of things all day, but I feel that is what my art's purpose is, to be emotive for me and viewers.

While I was in the barn yesterday taking pictures of the building, I heard the distinctive call of the Bullock Oriole. The photo is nothing worth talking about, but I felt compelled to take it. At that instant I was moved by the small little body immersed in bramble, sitting on a falling down fence. His strong song piercing through the barn felt juxtaposed to his small stature.

That was an attempt to document that moment's essence and use it later as a "jog" for my memory in order to start a painting. Later that day I felt moved enough to do something in color and shapes. I played with an old original digitally collaging so the birds were as big as their song. The falling down fence has my respect and so achieved color. Sometimes the moment captured on film or recorded in our memories evolve in the art as the muses let us journey in a self beating rhythm.

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.

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 >

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."

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Johhn John goes to school

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.

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.

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.

At last....

She has arrived, and is safe.