Ashla, the farm puppy: Veggie Share Week #17 – 9/27/23

Ashla, the farm puppy

A few weeks ago, a past employee (and apprentice!) of ours, Jared, came back to the farm. It’s been great to have him back.

But this newsletter isn’t about Jared. It’s about his puppy, Ashla.

Ashla is just a few months old. She is the same breed as Pepper, an English Shepherd.  She is brown, and soft, and fuzzy – and well, downright adorable.

I’ve never permitted an employee to bring a dog to work before. But Jared showed up with this adorable puppy, who doesn’t run off, is appropriately afraid of motorized vehicles, and mostly just naps in a shady spot.  And well, what can I say? I can’t resist her. Seriously. I would adopt her if Jared would let me (he won’t).

Ashla has a way of bringing everyone joy. Even the members of our crew that prefer cats and really don’t care for dogs…. even they find her cute. Puppies are just hard to resist!

The best part is that Ahsla and Pepper get along. When she first came to the farm, she was super little and not into playing just yet. Now she is. Every day for at least a couple of hours, those two are dog wrestling in the mud, in the grass, wherever.

Pepper is very gentle with her. He mouths her without biting. He carefully places his paw on her in play, careful not to bite her. She is rolly, and wild, and ruthless. Sometimes she snarls and rips the fur out of his neck. He doesn’t seem to mind. They just keep on playing together. It’s so dang cute sometimes I lose focus mid-sentence when I’m lining out the crew. I can just stand there and watch them play – have to remind myself not to.

Ashla is a puppy. She steals my kids’ shoes and tries to rip them apart. She gets into the trash. She puts strange things in her mouth. I had to kick her out of the office cause she peed on the floor and then chewed up Pepper’s bed while I wasn’t looking. But this is all part of being a puppy, and I am loving having her here.

As I remind my girls (who of course now want a puppy of their own), puppies are only puppies for a short time. I am excited to get to be a part of Ashla’s brief, brief puppydom and have it be here on the farm.

Cheers,
Farmer Cassie