Meet Our Animals

 Hi, my name is Tanner.   I am a 15 year old Quarter Horse/ Tenessee Walker.   My favorite little person is my girl Sophie.  We like to ride for fun and take lessons together once a week.   My favorite thing to do is eat cookies and be in the middle of all of the action.   I like to know what the latest buzz is on the farm.   I am an in your face kind of guy and like you to know that I am around.    I share a pasture with my girl Faith.   She is an old girl but she still likes to play from time to time and she definitely shows me that she is an in charge kind of gal.   If I do as she says, life is good.    

 Hi, my name is Faith.   I am estimated to be in my mid 20's.   I was rescued by Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue in January of 2024 from the New Year New Life auction.   I spent the first 20 plus years of my life working for the Amish.    When I was no longer of service to them, I was taken to a high kill auction where I was most likely going to go off with the meat men (yes this is a real thing).   Gentle Giants swooped in and saved me and 23 other draft horses that day.   Boy did my life take a turn for the better.    After 6 months at Gentle Giants this lady who swore that she never wanted a mare came to meet me.   Let's just say that it was love at first sight and since then I have changed her mind on mares.   We are inseparable and I have been living my best life since I came to Chasing Dreams Farm.   My Mom tells me that I will never have to work again.   I will just soak up all of the snuggles and grooming for the rest of my days here on the farm.   We do enjoy a slow walk/ trot here and then but most days I spend lounging in the sunshine and hanging with my favorite boy Tanner.   Well, bossing my boy Tanner around is more like it but I really do love that guy.  

 Napolean- The unsung hero of Chasing Dreams Farm.    Not long after we moved in, we had a few chickens taken in broad daylight by a fox.   We are big believers in free ranging our chickens, so we needed something to help us keep them safe while still allowing them to roam freely.   We went on a search for an LGD.   I truly believe that it was God's plan because we met Napoleon's owner who had recently sold her farm and needed a good home for Napoleon.    Napoleon is a 5-year-old Great Pyrenees and has been a LGD his entire life.   He has guarded all kinds of livestock.   Napoleon came to our farm, and it was instantly love at first sight.   He feels head over heels in love with my daughter.    He fell so in love with her that the first night he barked the entire night and when I woke up in the morning, I found him outside of our house fence.   He had dug out of his pasture and came to the place where he saw his little girl go inside.    He was very happy to see us and has stayed in his pasture every night since that first night.    I honestly think that he just wanted to find her and make sure that she would play with him again in the morning.    He is an absolute gentle giant.   My 12-year-old daughter can walk him all around the farm with no problem at all.   He is for sure the unsung hero on this farm.   He protects and serves all day every day.   Fun Fact: Great Pyrenees are nocturnal.   They protect and pace the pasture all night long keeping predators at bay.   During the day, you can find him napping with his buddy Pedro.   We are on the hunt to find him a puppy to train.   Napoleon deserves his own LGD partner as a companion.   If you know of any good candidates, please let us know.   

 Pedro- Pedro is a Black Angus/ Hereford cross.  Pedro came to Chasing Dreams Farm when he was 6 months old.   Pedro is being raised and loved until he is 2 years old and then he will provide nutritious food for our family.    If you asked me a year ago if I ever thought that I could do this, I would have said absolutely not.   We raised our first meat pigs last year and it was a real learning experience.   I can't explain the feeling but there is something special about raising an animal humanely and then seeing them give back to your family with amazingly nutritious food.    I truly believe that the animals raised here on the farm with so much love and compassion provide the absolute best food that our family can get.    We will love and spoil our Pedro boy as long as he is here on our pastures.    He will then bless our family and nourish our bodies.   Love In = Love Out

Fun Fact: Pedro was born on Cinco De Mayo

 Silas- named after Uncle Si on the hit TV show Duck Dynasty.   We drove from Maryland to Mississippi in an RV to pick up our Silas boy.  We brought home Silas and his sister Maggie who lives with a friend in Pasadena.    He came from Huntfield Labs and is from a strong bloodline of hunting dogs.   Silas was trained to be a bird dog but after long talks with Mommy we decided that a couch dog was more his speed.   He did experience a trip or two out in the blind and did retrieve his first duck.    The photos of my boy looking very cold in the duck blind made me even more convinced that he should stay warm at home and let the boys retrieve their own ducks.   Silas still loves retrieving his rubber ducks and running off leash all around the farm.   

  Junie B. Jarmer- named after Junie B. Jones.   If you have ever read the children's books "Junie B. Jones" you can use your imagination and picture the dog version of Junie B. Jones. That is our Junie.   We rescued her from Almost Home Dog Rescue in Ellicott City, Maryland.   Junie was found as a stray in Texas and brought to Maryland with her mom and litter mates.    She was the last one left and it was love at first sight for me.  Junie has one brown eye and one-half brown/half blue eye.   When you first see her, she appears to be cross eyed.   Those eyes and ornery personality were what made me fall head over heels in love with her.  There will never be another Junie B. Jarmer.   She is one of a kind.   She has eaten over $1000 in shoes in her short lifetime (she is only 3) and has destroyed more books, games and stuffed animals than you can imagine.    I always say that God definitely sent Junie to me because any other sane person would have returned her in the first week.   She is a menace, but she is my menace, and I love her to pieces.    Come visit us and meet little Junie B. Jarmer in real life.   

  The Pygmy Goats- JJ, Little Bit, Elsa and Anna were all taken in to live out their retirement days at Chasing Dreams Farm.   They are a hoot to watch and love snacks.  JJ can be a handful, and I may have some nick names for him, but we couldn't imagine life on the farm without them.  Fun Fact:  Little bit is JJ's Mom.  JJ and Anna wear bells around their necks.   The bells are thought to deter predators.   We sure do enjoy hearing the bells ringing as they run through their pasture.    

   The pot belly pigs- Bentley, Little Sue, Willy and Diesel were all brought to Chasing Dreams Farm to live out their retirement years with some piggy friends.  These guys do a whole lot of nothing but sure do love breakfast and dinner time.    They love lounging in the piggy puddle in the Summer and sunbathing in their pasture on warm days.  No food scraps go to waste with pot belly pigs around.   They will pretty much eat anything.  Fun fact:   Bentley is Little Sue and Willy's Dad and Diesel once lived in a dorm at Loyola College and rumor has it that he drank a beer or two in his lifetime.     

   Our Herd- We have two Jennie's, Hattie Mae and Gertal. a gelding Fergus and a stallion Duck.   We purchased our sweet little herd from Arden Pines Miniature Donkeys.   I originally reached out to Arden Pines to inquire about purchasing two donkeys.   Donkey's are companion animals and while they can live with other animals such as horses, they really thrive living with their own herd of donkey's.   With that in mind, we knew that we needed to purchase two donkey's together.   I mentioned that I was possibly interested in breeding in the future and that sparked an immediate interest from the breeder.    Come to find out, she and her husband were in the midst of retiring and moving.   They had decided to downsize their herd prior to the move and therefore an opportunity was found.   Gertal and Hattie Mae were both pregnant and expecting babies soon.   Fergus and Hattie Mae are bonded so they had to go together and if I was thinking of breeding in the future, I was going to need a stallion.   Fast forward to today and we have a beautiful herd of Miniature donkeys at Chasing Dreams Farm and an amazingly sweet baby boy.    Life has a way of working out and God always leads you in the direction that you are supposed to go.   When you let go and let God lead that way amazing things happen.  For us, that was our new journey with Miniature Donkeys.     

   Our hens and two mini roo's- I have honestly lost count at how many hens we have here on the farm.   We started with 13, adopted 10 from a farm stand closing down, rescued two bantam roosters from a family that only signed up for hens but ended up with two little roo's in a residential neighborhood and we are currently raising babies to add to our flock.  Our hens lay three shades of brown and green eggs.   Our newest babies will lay lavender colored eggs.   I cannot wait to see them in late Summer early Fall when they should start laying.   We have 30 meat birds coming in a few weeks.   This will be our first try at raising meat birds.   Meat birds take 8 weeks to get to their full size and then will go off to the butcher.    I am very excited to see the difference in farm raised and loved chicken versus the grocery store chicken.    

Fun fact: did you know that when laying hens molt once a year, they lose a lot of their feathers and slow down and or stop egg production.     Chickens produce eggs based on sunlight exposure.   You need a rooster to produce fertilized eggs.   Chickens are born with all of the eggs she will ever have.   Most hens start to lay between 6 and 9 months old.   I could go on and on with chicken facts but I won't bore you with any more details.    Come visit us to learn more.    

 Nala- The best barn cat in the world.    When we purchased the farm, the previous owners asked if we would want to keep Nala.  She was born at the barn and had never lived anywhere else.   They were afraid if they took her with them, she would run away and try to come back.  Needless to say, we said yes!!   My husband could not believe that somehow we ended up with our first animal on day 1 of the farm.  Nala is the Queen of the barns and has us all wrapped around her little paw.   She was the best gift that we could have received.    
 

    Meet the newest guys on the farm.  Hank and Wilbur are purebred Duroc pigs.  Sophie is competing in the swine project for 4H this year.    She will raise these piglets and then show them at the County fair at the end of Summer.   From there they will go off to market to the highest bidder.
 

  Gertal is a Miniature Mediterranean Donkey.   She is 6 years old, stands at 36 inches and is registered with ADMS.   She is the Momma to baby Whiskey.   Gertal is a sweet girl and has been an amazing Momma to baby Whiskey.    Gertal was the first animal to give birth at Chasing Dreams Farm.    We have been so blessed to be a part of her birthing journey.  
 

    Hattie May is an 8-year-old Miniature Mediterranean Donkey standing at 32 inches.   She is registered with the ADMS.  Hattie Mae is an absolutely love bug.   She will stand all day to be loved and groomed.  Hattie Mae is expected to have her baby very soon.   Stay tuned for updates.