It’s the end of 2024 as I am writing this and there has been a huge change these past couple of months. But this change has been a long time coming.
For the past 3 ½ years I have invested literally all my time and money into making my dream of saving animals’ lives and finding them new families come true and it’s been wonderful to see so many cats, dogs, horses, donkeys, goats but also chickens and ducks getting that chance on a new, great life. I was so full of hopes and dreams when I moved to the farm and I was convinced it would be easy to find like minded people who’d be eager to help in that mission, as I could never imagine anything else.
While I did save 28 dogs, 31 cats, 17 horses and donkeys, 12 goats and 2 sheep, 180 chickens and 14 ducks as well as one bunny, I was never able to find enough volunteers to support the work that is involved on running a 200ac farm and rescuing animals, all of which needed some form of healing be it in body, mind or spirit. We didn’t manage to save them all but the ones who were too sick passed the Rainbow Bridge being loved and cared for.
Winters were especially hard caring for the animals in the cold weather when everything just takes more effort and more attention, as the water hoses and spigots freeze along with the water troughs, when the animals spend more or even all of their time inside and their stalls need cleaning and fresh bedding, the various hay feeders need filling; water buckets refilling several times a day to prevent them from freezing and keeping water heaters in the troughs; the house needed supplemental heat by means of keeping the wood stove going as to not break the bank. The animals need more feed in winter as their bodies keep warm through digestion, and while hay was our number one expense on the farm, winter also meant supplemental feed for the farm animals which required regular runs to the feed store and lots of heavy lifting.
In the end I had to realize that one person just cannot do it all alone, or at least I can’t and I had to face this harsh reality as my health was suffering.
Harry & Sally, the hinnies, went to Save Your Ass Long Ears Rescue in NH; Johnny aka Mr Big went to the SPCA of NH; the 3 former race horses Dreamy, Thunder and Tommy together with Rocky our 35 year old horse went back to the Standardbred Retirement Foundation; the chickens were rehomed locally; the ducks went to Gooseberry Farms Sanctuary near Rome, NY; Enzo and Chinook magically found a home last minute just 300 yards as the crow flies from the farm so they get to watch over the valley; and finally Ella and Lola, Pauli and Frankie (aka Spot) get to travel with me and Tony, Gracie, Cece and Sammy. We’ve moved into my motorhome and are traveling the country, volunteering and saving more lives along the way, heading west to look for a new home in one of the Western states.
Currently we are at Sunset Farms Sanctuary in Arkansas where we help Helen care for pigs, goats, sheep, cows, chickens and even 2 Emus. Helen does amazing work and also almost all by herself as her husband is now driving trucks to make money for the rescue. Helen and her husband Brian moved the whole rescue 4 years ago from Oregon to Arkansas after experiencing drought and wildfires, but along the way lost all their volunteers and also due to COVID a lot of financial help. Please look them up on Social Media and support their mission as they have such a wonderful and safe place here for so many farm animals all of which where saved from either slaughter or neglect.
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