When envisioning our farm, I always imagined being surrounded by animals. Since relocating to Portugal, coyote and I have been building our dream animal roster, complete with names, which includes two horses, two miniature horses, a donkey (or miniature donkey), dogs, chickens, peacocks, and ducks.

Strader and I were both in agreement that we wanted to find the perfect farm dog, a dog that could safeguard our property and our animals. Initially, I was dead set on a Maremmano Abruzzese, an Italian farm dog, but sadly couldn't find any in Portugal. until, I came across the Rafeiro Alentejano, a Portuguese breed trained to protect farms in Alentejo. everyone I consulted said if i find one, get one! So, I began scouring the pages of animal rescue sites and was over the moon when I found this little nugget. originally Named "Pudge" at the shelter – sorry, Pudge, you needed a new name. Say hello to Scout. At three months old, she currently weighs 15 kilos and is expected to reach 45-50 kilos! We plan to find her a companion in the future, but for now, she's just perfect.

we adopted scout from O CANTINHO DA MILU rescue in setubal, portugal. they have over 700 dogs in need of homes. if you live in portugal want to adopt a dog, check out their website, here, and instagram, here. and if you don’t live in portugal, but want to make a donation, you can do that here.

They’re woman-owned, which i love, and their facility was pretty magical to see all the dogs running and playing together.

so on april 6, 2024, scout became the newest member of our farm and family.

then we decided to get sheep….

Since we're not quite ready for my dream horses, Strader suggested we get a couple of sheep to help "mow the field." Our friend Justino connected us with a local shepherd who promised two baby lambs by the end of April. On April 21st, we set off to pick up our sheep, not entirely sure how to bring them home – maybe they'd fit in the back of our car? Arriving at the farmer's home, we spent some time with the sheep and quickly came to the realization that we might not be cut out for sheep after all. While the baby lambs were undeniably cute, the adult sheep, to my regret, were quite unappealing – not cute and rather scruffy. i mean they looked like gollum! was this the wrong breed? I definitely didn’t remember sheep looking like these. I mean, I wasn't too keen on getting sheep in the first place, as I was holding out for horses, but since Strader wanted them, so I agreed. Luckily, we both decided that these sheep weren't the sheep for us. I 100% recall other breeds being much cuter, but these ones looked like aliens! no bueno! haha.

i know many people have suggested goats, but a friend’s psycho goat has pretty much ruined goats for us. she’s super agressive and territorial, so much so that i’m terrified to enter their farm. maybe we could try two babies, and raise them to be kind, friendly goats, but i don’t know, the jury is still out on that one.

The following day, we welcomed some gifted geese. Feeling guilty that coyote had expected lambs for weeks and left disappointed, we thought geese would be a good consolation prize and a softer start to farm animals. In addition to the geese, we plan to introduce four ducks. But for now, meet Jolene and Elvis.

I'm beyond eager to get chickens, however, we need to construct a chicken coop first. So, for now, we have Elvis and Jolene, and hopefully, we'll have ducks joining them next week.

currently jolene and elvis are terrified of us and hide under the trees whenever we go to feed them, but hopefully they'll come around soon:)

if you happen to live in the lisbon area and have any cute animals from my list that you want to donate to our farm, I will gladly take them, as long as they’re nice:)

(horses, mini horses, donkey, mini donkey:)

that’s all for now!

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Obrigada!

ICYMI