Photo by Audrey Pavia My friend, Stephanie, and my rooster, Mr. Mabel, have a stormy relationship. Early last week, I got an email from my old friend, Stephanie, who lives in Pittsburgh. Her planned trip to Russia fell through, and she asked if she could come stay with me this week. I was thrilled—I hadn’t […]
Photo by Audrey Pavia Rio, my Spanish Mustang, has been my dream come true. As a lifelong horse lover, I’ve always had the dream of raising my own baby horse. Well, at least since I was 9 years old. My fantasies were elaborate. I’d have a ranch up in the mountains, surrounded by pine trees. […]
Photo by Audrey Pavia My roosters Mr. Mabel and Mr. Molly get along great—until springtime. The flowers are all blooming on my property: huge pink and white blooms on my cactus, purple and yellow starburst on the native plants around the yard. But the most evident sign of spring for me is the behavior of […]
Photo by Audrey Pavia Milagro got dressed up for the Norco Horseweek Parade. Every year in my town of Norco, Calif., we celebrate Horseweek. This is a week of fun equine events, kicked off by a Saturday-morning parade. Unlike the other parades held in Norco throughout the year, this one features only horses. Horses being […]
Photo by Audrey Pavia Elvis the peacock took up temporary residence in the yard of our urban farm. This morning at dawn, when I went outside to feed the horses, I heard the usual chorus of roosters crowing all over town. But I also heard something else I hadn’t experienced in a while: the low […]
I remember the first time I saw her. She was a little gray ball of fuzz, no bigger than a mouse.
Photo by Audrey Pavia My hens like to lay their eggs where I can’t reach them. Sometimes I feel like there is a conspiracy going on in my barnyard. At the risk of sounding paranoid, I occasionally sense that my critters get together behind my back and try to figure out ways to make my […]
Photo by Audrey Pavia The Amazing Olivia is quite the hunter Most urban farmers aren’t too concerned with rodent control. A mouse in the house is more of a problem for us urban types than a mouse in the grain room for rural farmers. But as my friend Lisa’s dog Olivia showed me, urban farms […]
Photo by Audrey Pavia Rio, my Spanish Mustang, turned 3 years old this week. As goofy as he can be, he’s been a dream come true. Since the age of 9, I have been obsessed with spotted horses. Since that same age, I’ve also been obsessed with Mustangs. So when I bought my first spotted […]
Photo by Audrey Pavia All the heavy rains we’ve been having have made a mess of our stalls. Southern California has a reputation for being sunny and warm nearly all year round. And for the most part, it’s true. So when we have occasional bouts of bad weather and complain about it, we are no […]
