This past weekend my girlfriend Brena and I went to her hometown in South Jersey to spend some time with her childhood best friend, Emily. This was exciting because Emily works at several barns with a plethora of animals and promised to take us around to meet them. As you may have gathered from previous blog posts, I am a huge animal lover, as is Brena, and she has hyped up the baby donkeys Em takes care of for months now. On top of the baby donkeys — “bonkeys” as we nicknamed them — another of the barns had a kitten I was excited to meet.

It was not the best of weather to trek in the mud of outdoor animal fields, but we made do with boots and hand warmers because mere cold was not going to keep me from these “bonkeys.”

Our first stop was Majoda Stables, home of the kitten. I rode horses through college and I miss it, so it’s always comforting to be in a barn surrounded by them. The kitten’s name is Beanie, and she was the sweetest, tiniest thing imaginable. If I hadn’t just adopted a cat, I would be in serious danger of taking this kitten home with me. Her purr was like a motor, so loud for such a little creature, and she relaxed in my arms straight away. I hope Beanie finds a forever home soon, as all her siblings have already been adopted. This barn also had a friendly mini donkey for us to pet and, of course, I had to pet a few horses as well before we left.

Then we headed to the main event: the backyard farm where the “bonkeys” live. There are three of them, two boys and a girl. There’s also an adult donkey in the field with them. They are extremely well-socialized. They followed us around, coming right up to us to ask for pets, nibbling softly at our fingers with their silky snouts. They are so much softer than you would expect. I have no idea what breed of donkey they are, but they look different than the image that first comes to mind when you think of a donkey.

I was overjoyed to be surrounded by these little guys. I’m pretty short, so imagine them as even smaller than they appear in this image with me for scale. They made me really want a hobby farm in my backyard … unfortunately, I don’t think that’s legal in South Philly. But maybe someday!

After saying goodbye to our little friends, we warmed up with lunch at a diner, and then Brena and I headed back to the city. I always love getting a nice dose of nature and a change of scenery on the weekends.

— Hannah Gruen, administrative coordinator