Snowshoe Hollow Farm

05/21/2026

14 passes 15 minutes 10X faster. with

05/04/2026

It’s about time for Gingy’s annual haircut.
Putting it on the list.

This one’s for Beth 😉🙃.

04/26/2026

Watch Ginger drag me and the log. 🤨 Feels pretty naughty to me. She knows how to whoa and how to stand when I’m connecting. Springtime can be a feisty time for ponies and a good time to refresh on all the basics. Now we’re focusing on reinforcing the whole stand thing again. This girl just knows her job and thinks she knows best when to go forward with all her might. She seems anxious and doesn’t see the need to wait for my cue. But honestly this wasn’t at all funny when I was alone in this situation being dragged across the frozen muddy yard trying with all my strength to hold her. Guess who’s stronger? And this is very dangerous if she starts without me being ready and I have my hand or legs in the wrong place. It’s super important that she can just chill in a total halt position until I ask her to step forward.

At least she certainly looks to be strong and able. 💪🐴

I was feeling pretty discouraged after this, but also very glad no one was hurt, nothing was damaged and Ginger seems plenty strong enough for the work I’m asking of her.

For added context this ground was mostly frozen but rotting and punching through soft with some of her steps. I think this had something to do with her feeling a need to go big and with some momentum. Also there was a hay bag back at the hitching spot that I believe she was focusing on instead of me or the job at hand.

Ginger and I have been working together on this farm for going on 17 years now, so we know each other well. Though she does have a big energy style when starting the load, this was a new behavior and I find it kind of scary. I don’t want this to happen again.



Have you ever had a day like this working with your animals? If you have experience with this kind of work, what tips might you have to offer? Please kindly share in the comments. 🙏💚

04/15/2026

A picture from 8 years ago that turned up today. This was the maiden voyage of our Annie’s All-in one tool digging furrows in the high tunnel. We’ve learned so much going into our 8th growing season with this handy tool. I can’t imagine how we’d be doing what we do without it.

Finding equipment for single horse power farming is a challenge anywhere I’d imagine. In Alaska all I could wish for was someone’s old antique lawn ornament from the early Homer homesteaders to be usable and made available. Alas this never happened. I first saw the Annie’s on a website called Farm Hack, and later would witness a demonstration with it at my very first Draft Animal Powered Field Days in Cummington, MA.

Eventually it would become a dream made reality to have one shipped here to me in Alaska, thanks to a few key people and their generous help. Having this versatile tool makes small farming with a single horse feasible for me and keeps me in the game. I think of it as my equivalent to a BCS tractor. 😂 I know it’s not, but for me… it’s what works with .

It’s nearly time to get the tunnel beds built up, and I moved the Annie’s in there yesterday with the intention of tuning it up for that work possibly this weekend. 🤞🏽

03/30/2026

Ginger and I are making gains towards the spring work ahead! Here are some of our strides this week. I’ve been trimming out alders from her yard and using the limbs as ground poles to practice walking over. This is good for both of us in conditioning our muscles and movement. Then we successfully harnessed up on another day and used those lightweight limbs as our very first pulls of the season over the frozen ground. There are much bigger logs and loads to pull out of there, and I’d love to get them out before the ground softens. We’re feeling so encouraged by our successes this week! Ginger seems to be feeling good in her 26 year old body and is happy to get out and do new things. I think all this spring sunshine has had a wonderfully energizing effect on her (and me too 😉). I love that she’s in such good spirits and seems to want more of this.

03/25/2026