Blaze and Martin Flory leave West Wing

Howell Farm's senior horse moved up in the horse world. A retired horse for five years, Blaze remains a Howell Farm icon. On Friday, August 27 Rob Flory and his son Martin led 32 year old Blaze out of his stall from the West Wing of the barn where Blaze has been an occupant since he arrived at the farm around 25 years ago. The West Wing is awaiting restoration and has been showing its age, just like Blaze.

Blaze enters East WingMartin led Blaze out of one end of the barn and into the other side to a brand new box stall that farmer and carpenter Ian Ferry has been working on since the beginning of this year.

Blaze showed his approval and pleasure with the spacious new box stall and will continue to spend his days at Howell Farm in the luxurious box suite next to Daisy the cow's stall.

Four little piglets came home to Howell Farm on Wednesday, August 25, 2010. Farmer Jim McDonough, who specializes in pig care at Howell Farm, picked up the piglets Wednesday morning and arrived at Howell Farm at 10:00 a.m. The pigs are friendly and curious but very shy. Already this morning they have been viewed by many visitors and are quickly adjusting to the lime light.

The piglets are a cross between a landracer and a duroc. As weaned piglets they are not nursing from their mother and will be fed by Howell Farm's farmers with bread and milk until they can handle corn feed and vegetable/fruit scraps.

Howell Farm's pond in April, 2010Howell Farm's pond August, 2010Howell Farm took advantage of the low pond waters to dredge its spring fed pond. Several inches of muck and scum were scraped from the bottom in order to create healthier and deeper water. This will allow pond life a friendlier habitat and hopefully improve the ice formation during the winter so that Howell Farm can harvest the ice.

Great Blue Herons like the one above are among the many wildlife that make Howell Farm's pond their home. Fish, frogs, ducks, turtles, and of course Howell Farm's Toulouse geese also enjoy the pond.

Update on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 10:07AM by Webmaster

Howell Farm's pond after dredging, August, 2010.