The 11-acre farm was perfect for genteel country living. Located in rural Hunterdon County, New Jersey, the property featured an 1880s courtyard-style barn, partially converted to a residence, that overlooked a scenic pond and small pasture. Laura and Jefferson Barnes wanted the place as soon as they saw it.

There was just one small problem—a 29-inch-high problem, to be exact. Ernest, a bedraggled, brown miniature donkey, lived in the lower level of the barn, beneath the house. He shared his hay with Chester, an elderly, white draft horse. Their owner was retiring. She hadn’t been able to find a new home for the animals and feared separating them because of their close bond.

Although the Barneses hadn’t planned on taking in a tiny, snorting donkey and his aged equine friend, evicting the animals when they had nowhere to go was unthinkable. So the couple purchased the property and promised to tend Ernest and Chester. That decision—and the interest in homeless farm animals that it sparked—would eventually transform Laura Barnes’ world.

Little and Loyal
Miniature donkeys are generally friendly, happy-spirited creatures who love being with other animals. True to that sociable profile, Ernest enjoyed hanging out with his horse pal, Chester. Having new owners didn’t change that. The peewee donkey trotted eagerly into the pasture after the larger animal and stayed close beside his friend while eating and sleeping.

Unfortunately, the horse lived only six months more. “When Chester died, Ernest was grief-stricken,” Laura Barnes remembers. He brayed night and day as the couple searched for another horse to be his companion. because Hunterdon is an affluent, horse-fancying community, animals often need new homes when their owners buy a “better” horse or when the horses can no longer be ridden.

Such was the case with Twist, a magnificent thoroughbred jumper with a career-ending leg injury, who came to live at Barnesyard Farm, as it’s known, after Chester’s death. At first, Twist seemed less than thrilled to be sharing life with a dumpy, tag-along, miniature donkey. Soon, however, the two unlikely friends became inseparable partners. Seasons passed happily. Then Twist developed cancer.

“I was so devastated when he was diagnosed,” says Barnes, who worried about how another loss might affect Ernest. Out of pain and distress, she began writing of the days when Twist and Ernest first met. “I never thought of myself as a writer,” she says, but “the animals were so much the story” that the writing just came. Barnes created several children’s tales about friendship, resolving differences, learning self-acceptance and valuing even the smallest animals— all based on the formerly homeless creatures at Barnesyard.

The writing helped her deal with Twist’s death, but the manuscripts were rejected by more than 70 publishers. Barnes decided to publish the books herself. In 2000, Twist and Ernest, with illustrations by Carol A. Camburn, became the first Barnesyard Books product. Teeny, Tiny Ernest followed later that same year. The two titles have sold more than 20,000 copies through Barnesyard’s Web site, in bookstores and during author visits to schools and libraries. A third book came out in 2002; the fourth is due this fall.

Following Twist’s burial alongside Chester in the farm’s small animal graveyard, Barnes looked for more unwanted creatures to shelter. She set her sights on an 8-acre plot adjacent to the farm to gain space for her growing dream.

Happy Endings
There are now five little donkeys, including 20-year-old Ernest, jogging across the pasture to greet Barnes as she approaches with handfuls of miniature carrots. She’s brought along some full-size carrots, too, for Traveler, a 21-year- old off-white thoroughbred. When she found him, she says, he was standing deep in manure, with no hay, “starved for affection. When you would go toward him and raise your hand, he would back up and keep on backing up,” she says. Traveler settled easily into life at Barnesyard.

Two more donkeys were added. “There are so many available,” Barnes says, explaining that miniature donkeys are often bought to pull carts or be family pets. But because the donkeys can live to age 40, children are grown and gone and the donkeys are still around. In her school visits, Barnes is careful to discourage Ernest’s fans from rushing out to acquire their own miniature donkey.

“I explain that I have a two-year-old baby donkey, Bianca, and that I’m 44. I ask them, ‘If Bianca lives to be 40, how old will I be then?’ This example brings kids—and their parents—back down-to-earth.”

Recently, Barnesyard Farm expanded to 19 acres. There are plans to build another barn with stable space for three or four horses. Tiny donkeys like being in a herd, so as many as 10 could eventually be accommodated on the farm.

Thousands of young readers are now experiencing the spirit and lessons of Barnesyard and anticipating the next tale. Children send Ernest adoring e-mail messages. Teachers and parents praise him. Inside the country post office down the road, his photo hangs in a heart-shaped frame, with a copy of his latest adventure propped up on the counter.

Ernest, however, remains unchanged by celebrity. His days are filled, as always, with eating favorite foods, trotting around the pasture and just hanging out with his friends.

Robin Warshaw is an Elkins Park, Pennsylvania-based journalist and author.