Before coming to Cricket Creek Farm, Matthew and I worked at Mandala Farm in Maine. Mandala is a horse-powered farm; they use horses to cultivate 3 acres of vegetables. The horses do all of the plowing, discing, manure spreading, etc. They also have a breeding and training program for Fjord horses. Matthew and I worked with horses every day while at Mandala Farm and we really came to love them. The horses truly felt like part of the farm team. They enjoyed working (the Fjord horse was domesticated over 4,000 years ago and has been bred for willingness to work for 2,000 years) and often felt like a real partner in work. Since then we have often talked about getting a horse or two for doing some light work around the farm. This autumn Matthew found a great fit – she is a Suffolk Punch named Janelle. She has most recently been working at Little Seed Gardens, which is the farm where we worked before Mandala! She is 7 years old and has done some work in the past, so this is not completely new to her. She is a real joy to be around already. She is calm around Matthew, very friendly to all of us, and comfortable around the cows. Yesterday she did put us in our place by going for a bit of a run in the woods and having us chase her to get her back. Matthew was able to get the halter on her and walk her back to the horse barn on Oblong Road, where she is living with some heifers. Welcome Janelle!
