Opening up

Everyday at Daniel Boone begins with opening up the buildings and setting them up so that people can look inside. The opening up procedure also includes feeding the animals, which in the summer consists of the horses and the cat. The sheep eat enough grass in the summer to warrant us not feeding them. Reds, our male horse, is 25 and arthritic, but still very aggressive. We have to lock him in the barn with his food and then feed Dancer, or else he will try to eat both of their food.

The cat doesn’t have a name and no one knows where it came from. Like most farm cats it just showed up one day and has stayed ever since. I like to give the cat a handful of food in the morning, and usually when it’s eating she’s eating she’s in the mood to be petted.

We also give the horses water in buckets, although there is also a stream running through their pasture.

Here's Red eating his breakfast.

Oh yes, and did I mention we have geese? They just eat grass and whatever else it is that geese eat.

We then walk around and unlock all of the other buildings, which include the black smith’s shop, barn, and Bertolet cabin. In this cabin we put up gates in front of the door so people can see in but can’t go in and touch anything.