The kids from Brayton Elementary school – 50 fifth graders – joined us for lunch Friday at Bedlam Farm, Chloe is definitely a Bedlam Farm animals, she was mobbed by excited young people feeding her, touching her, loving her. She was a pro, calm and approachable. It is a gift to have so many great and enthusiastic kids around, I loved their questions and enthusiasm. I hope they come back.
Fate lit up the minute she saw the school bus pull into the driveway. And the kids lit up when they saw here, she just drank it up, wiggling and hamming and getting her belly rubbed, her tail going like a helicopter blade. She had a blast. She is definitely a Bedlam dog, the right dog for us. She and Chloe will make their public debut at the Bedlam Farm Open House on June 27-18. I’d say they are ready. It is a touching thing to see how much people and animals belong together. We need to keep them in our lives, not take them away.
We are honored and excited that Pamela Richenback from Blue Star Equiculture will also be at the open house bringing two draft horses and offering carriage rides.
Chloe took to the kids from Brayton Elementary School, and they loved her. She was very much like Simon, she was calm and steady and loved to be touched and petted (and fed carrots and apples). For many of these kids, it was the first time they had ever seen a horse, Chloe seemed to understand. This reminds me yet again how important it is to keep animals in our every day lives, I realize that if kids in the Berkshires have never seen a sheep or pony or donkey or border collie, we really are in great danger of becoming disconnected with the animal world and the natural world.
This was important, we loved doing it, we are inspired to arrange more visits to the farm. The kids were curious, attentive and very well-behaved, they are welcome here anytime and I thank them for loving the story of Simon.
A wondrous morning at Bedlam Farm, 50 fifth graders from the Brayton Elementary School in North Adams, Mass., descended on Bedlam Farm to meet the animals, love the dogs and pony, talk about Simon (they read the book) and have lunch with Maria and I out on the law by the pasture. We loved every second of it, and so did the animals. I hope the kids did too, they seemed very happy,
Even though North Adams is in the Berkshires, it’s an old mill town without the mills and many of these kids have never seen a pony, a donkey, or a working dog. It was great to meet them, they were bright, curious, funny and crazy about animals, as most kids are.
They wanted to hear all about Simon, they were mesmerized by his story, they identified with him in so many ways. This is why we are up where, why we have the farm and love it. We love to host kids and show them the donkeys. Red was in heaven, so was Fate. Chloe the pony turned out to be a crowd whore, she loved being fed, touched and fussed over.
Working With Fate: Day four. A good lesson this morning with Fate, I am surprised at this 14-week-old pup, she has great instinct and poise, and she is listening to me out there, not easy to get an aroused border collie puppy to do. We have a lot of work to do with the directionals, “Come By,” and “Away,” I have to move a lot more and get Fate to move in conjunction with me.
That will be the challenge. She is already reacting to where I am. She walks up well, lies down reliably, has a good steady pace with the sheep. She tends not to get crazy with them at all, they are beginning to trust her, as you can see in the photo. Very exciting, I am loving it. Very exciting for me, I am teaching her she is teaching me. I know a lot more than I did before, I have more patience. I just can’t move quite as fast. I’ll have to figure that out. Off to teach my writing class.
