PEABODY — Madison Wood can’t remember a time before she was surrounded by animals.
The 22-year-old was just 5 when her grandfather brought an influx of animals to the Forest Street property that houses the trucking company her family owns and operates. But, it wasn’t love at first sight for Wood.
She explained that it wasn’t until 2020 that she took an interest in the hundreds of animals living on the property — including cows, horses, a donkey, chickens, and peacocks. Then, an employee working on the farm suffered a stroke, and with no one left to take care of the horses, Wood stepped up.
Now, Wood serves as the full-time caretaker for the horses, and most of the more than 100 birds that call the property home.
Her grandparents decided to establish the farm out of a love for farming, with her grandfather studying animal science and farm husbandry at Essex Tech. And so, the barn was built, and cows and peacocks moved in.
Among the flock at the Woods’ farm are five adult peacocks, who have garnered a bit of a reputation, as they’ve been known to fly out into the road or onto neighboring properties. One even made its way to a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts.
The peacock population, and really the population of animals on the farm writ large, is on the rise, with several adolescent peacocks living in the chicken coop alongside a handful of turkeys and several dozen chickens of all shapes and sizes. Inside the coop, roosters loudly cawed as Wood pointed out the various animals living inside.
Wood explained that many of the animals are rescues, either from the MSPCA or strangers who reach out.
Some animals have been thrown over the fence and abandoned on the property, she said.
“I do take roosters. People actually dumped them over the fence, which is really sad. People will drive by and just throw them over the fence,” she said, noting that at one point 15 roosters lived on the property, a number that has fallen to four.
Wood spends most of her time with the horses and the birds. She admits she has little interest or care for the 20 or so cows on the property.
“I don’t know why cows are just his animal of choice,” Wood said. “Those are totally my grandfather’s.”
“If it was up to me, I wouldn’t have 20 cows,” she quipped, explaining she doesn’t know much about them.
Wood said she is mostly self-taught, though her girlfriend studied equine science at Essex Tech and pitches in along with other friends from the school.
Despite her initial reservations, Wood has developed a real fondness for the animals, each of which are simply pets — the only animal product the family uses from the group living on the farm are the eggs laid by hens, some of which are blue and green because of the particular breed of hen. (Wood said despite the unusual color, the eggs taste just like the white or brown eggs one might find at the grocery store).
Of all the animals on the property, Wood said her favorite is Chester, the barn cat she recently took in after he was deemed un-adoptable at a shelter for his aggression. But now, he follows Wood around everywhere she goes.
“[He was] the meanest cat I’ve ever met and he actually was like beating me and hissing and being so mean in the shelter,” she said. “Now, he’s just the sweetest boy I’ve ever met…. He has a tracker on him because he likes to go a little bit too far. I know where he is 24/7.”
Recent additions include Jackie, a guard donkey, a gaggle of four geese, and three baby goats, which Wood bottle-fed at the start of this reporter’s visit to the property last month.
The geese are “hilarious,” she said, and adopted in part to serve as guards — they “start screaming, screaming, screaming, screaming” when people show up.
With no signs of slowing down, Wood hopes the farming tradition will continue through younger generations.
“It’s definitely a family thing,” she said. “It’s amazing. It really does bring us closer.”
“I never am bored,” she added.
Those traveling down Forest Street are welcome to pull over and give the animals a treat, Wood said. In fact, she said she loves giving tours of the property, and has invited total strangers in to get a glimpse at the world within a world.
