As a nonprofit, your donations help us keep the many animals on the farm happy and healthy. Learn about each of our animals below and choose which one you’d like to support! Thank you for helping to keep Farm at Water’s Edge thriving for our community and HCSEG’s many environmental education programs.
Our diverse chicken flock is made up of a mixture of several different chicken breeds, including Brahmas, Buff Orpingtons, Australorps, Polish and Barred Rock. We have two roosters, Henry and Hei Hei, and a group of hens, all of whom provide a range of benefits to the Farm at Water’s Edge. For example, they are an effective natural weed and pest suppressant. As they scratch at the earth and forage about, they are not only churning up insects to snack on, but also weed seeds. In addition, many of our garden and food scraps will go to the chickens. They love munching on tasty kale leaves, melon, squash, tomatoes, and more! Our chickens’ eggs are also periodically available to the public.
While chickens might first come to mind when you think poultry, ducks make for equally great farm animals. Our cherished Muscovy Duck, Emma, offers many benefits to our garden here on the farm. We utilize her nitrogen-rich manure as a natural fertilizer in garden beds, and through foraging she helps control common garden pests like slugs, snails, grasshoppers, beetles, grubs, and more. She also supplies us with eggs that we offer to the community as they are available. As waterfowl, ducks have waterproof feathers that provide a layer of warm insulation. This makes them particularly well suited for our cool, wet coastal climate.
Perhaps the most entertaining animals on the Farm at Water’s Edge, our goats are beloved by staff and visitors alike for their playful, mischievous personalities. Goats are known to be good at finding trouble and getting themselves stuck in the most unlikely of situations! Unfortunately for our Pacific Northwest-dwelling herd, they notoriously despise the rain, but are otherwise generally hardy animals. Goats are impressive grazers adept at controlling all sorts of weeds. In the summer when weeds start to run rampant, we use our goats as automatic lawn mowers – letting them out to pasture in the farm’s weediest areas. Their manure also goes into the garden as a fertilizer at the end of the growing season to replenish a variety of beneficial nutrients. Fun fact: goats have rectangular pupils! This gives them stellar peripheral vision to help keep an eye out for predators.
Originating from mountainous regions of South America, both alpacas and llamas are members of the camel family. Our alpacas grow special hair called “fiber”, which is highly valued for being warmer, softer, and stronger than wool. The larger companions to alpacas – our two llamas – have reputations for being good livestock guardians. If provoked, they will spit and kick to defend their herd; however, both alpacas and llamas are typically docile (albeit stubborn) creatures. Members of our youth 4-H Club work with our alpacas regularly to keep them comfortable with being handled by humans. Furthermore, alpaca & llama manure is one of the most desirable natural fertilizers due to its high nutrient concentration. We spread it on garden beds at the end of the season to cultivate nutrient-rich soil that will be ready for planting come spring!
Our two cute and cuddly rabbit companions, Ojos and Josie, eagerly greet visitors who pass by their hutches on their way to the Bark Park. They enjoy snacking on leafy green leftovers from the garden and any grasses you may find around the farm. Our rabbits are also important to our 4H club – members work with them to learn important principles of animal husbandry and develop the skills necessary to care for farm animals. Some favorite activities of our bunnies include hopping around and exploring, soaking up warmth from the sun or heat lamps, and digging nests.
