Perfect Day Off

That's how I spent my morning. Reclining back in the arms of a lovely tree outstretched over the lake. It was beautiful. I woke up at seven this morning. It seems I just can't sleep in too well here on the farm which is okay. I catch a lot of amazing sights when I'm up this early. The morning started with a bowl of oatmeal and dates (6 days sugar free, thank you very much!) and I hiked my way up to the butte across the street. The scenery once you get to the lake here is unbelievable. I took a different path this time so I was hiking underneath the butte where all the trees are. It was extremely mystical feeling. I half expected Kahlan Amnell to appear in her white confessor dress from "Legend of the Seeker" (I should start that show up again). I spent a good three hours outside this morning, moving from rocks to trees just reading. What a great start to the day.

When I got back I headed to the farm to hang out with the goats and pigs a bit. Some highlights from that adventure:

Six little piggies sleeping on a hill...and Rusty.

Kanbar and her ears.

Charles Suave (I'm giving him that last name because he just is...suave) What a handsome guy!

So that was my lovely day around the farm and beyond. When I got back I did some laundry and hung it out to dry. Seriously, who doesn't want to do laundry when you've got these little babes watching?

Since they trotted up to the fence line the second they saw me hanging laundry, I went and got an apple and carrot for these guys. I mean they left the comfort of the shaded tree to come say hello! <3 Oliver and Elliot. 

Sugar bad, Cows good.

I love how Cinnamon rolls bring people together. Kerrie, had her 39 1/2 birthday today and celebrated by bringing everyone a Cinnaholic Cinnamon roll. Word traveled through the farm phone tree pretty fast and we were down at the shelter in minutes ready to chow down. It was delicious and it couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Monday is the official "I'm never eating sugar again day". Seriously. I'm pretty sure that with all the exercise I get out here weight gain SHOULD NOT be an issue. I'm blaming our late night baking parties and lack of self control. Stephanie is joining me in the sugar fast! I will post updates on how it's going.

After work today Shubah, Stephanie and I hit up the pastures with our cameras. The cows were moved to the pond pasture this weekend and it was absolutely gorgeous up there! I'll let the photos speak for themselves:

 Whitaker and Edwin

 Loretta grooming Suzie Moo

 El Nino surveying his pasture

 Melanie checking out the pond

Our awesomely dorky camera timer shot

Couple quick photos

Not a whole lot to report tonight, just wanted to post a couple photos from my walk back to vegan house after close.
 

 

Secret cow love at dusk

Tomorrow I help with santa cruz health care and then head to San Francisco for a couple days!

Pondering in Pastures

The sun came back to the farm today and it was lovely! I had a pretty easy day. I opened, and then barn cleaned, fed out produce, raked, and did waters. After coming back from feeding out the produce I found a little dove near the shelter office that had some sort of injury, we couldn't quite figure out exactly what happened, but we called the wildlife rescue place and he/she will be all fixed up there.

After work Stephanie and I went to spend a little time with the cattle. Everyone looked so relaxed and happy. Made my heart smile :) Here are a few pics from the afternoon:

 

Susie Moo and Loretta

Handsome man Edwin

 Big boy El Nino

Edward: best mohawk on the farm

And then there was Chrissy. She was being absolutely zen out on the hill today. So much so that she got a video out of it. Check it out:

Last Week

I abandoned blogging for awhile, but today I really need to do my taxes so blogging has suddenly become very interesting again.  It was hard to get out of bed this morning because I rolled over and the cattle were grazing right outside my window. Watching them is sometimes like watching reality tv...in a foreign language. I can tell very interesting things are going on in the herd. I can see the cliques, the relationships, the friendships, the drama, but I don't quite understand the dialogue. I wish I could be a cow for a day and get in on their secret life out there in the pasture.

Highlights from the week:

Stephanie and I went to Sophia's class "Why Vegan?" and helped out with the sales of books and cupcakes. It was really interesting to go and see people be so responsive to the talk, people asked great questions and despite knowing a lot of the information I actually learned quite a bit! There is another class next week about how to move towards a vegan diet. I'm not sure if I'll be able to attend this one yet because I might be headed to San Francisco for my two days off in a row. 

We watched the movie Fowl Play last week too which is one I've wanted to see for quite sometime. This documentary focuses on all aspects of the egg industry. There is undercover video that is hard to watch, but it's spread out nicely between rescue stories. Because of this movie I've been doing a little bit of research into hatcheries and egg laying facilities. I found a website of an egg farm who is so confident their practices are "humane" that they have six live cameras you can watch at any time. It just focuses on the birds in the cages. I found it extremely interesting that they are calling themselves a humane facility based only on the livelihood of the hens in the cages.  I really would like them to put a camera in the hatcheries, more specifically on the sexing process of the birds that are born to inhabit those cages. I think anyone who could see the video of male chicks (deemed worthless by the industry) being ground up alive, suffocating to death in huge piles, or being tossed into plastic bags to suffocate would be appalled. Regardless of the treatment these egg laying chickens receive the sad fact of the matter is that male chicks are just a "worthless bi product" to the industry. I was going to post the link to this facilities live cams but I'd rather not accidentally give them free advertisement. Anyways, I just went off on a tangent, check out Fowl Play, it's definitely worth the watch. If you have Netflix it's available as a "watch now" option.

I'll try to keep updating throughout this week. I really need to get some more photos but the weather has been terrible. I even went out and bought myself a pair of rain pants....overall style. Yeah, I've got the farm fashion down. Speaking of bad weather though....even when the weather is awful we always end the day on a good note:

 Shubah took this picture. I didn't even get to see the rainbow! But it was just so gorgeous I had to share!

C'mon cows! Let's Mooooove!

I opened this morning, and as usual, it was a delight. My first stop was the rescue barn. Here are housed the turkey girls, rescue pigs and a couple Iso Sheep...so imagine my surprise when I walked in and was greeted by several "Moooooos"! I'm still not exactly sure why there were cattle in there. I think the barn had been opened up for them because it was raining last night. Anyways, it set the tone for the day. Tomorrow is the second round of cattle health care so we had to move the herd closer to the Cattle Barn. All 26 of them. Mike and I took the mule out to the pasture and began calling to them "C'mon cows!" this is a phrase they respond to best and clapping. Mario and Linus led the way and most followed, taking frequent snack breaks along the way. There were only about 5 lingerers so we worked with them one on one. Offering pellets, giving little behind pats and showing them the way. It was really cute to watch the heard that had already headed to the other pastures call out to the slower ones. We got everyone all set up and ready and out of the pasture....and then there was....El Nino. I really wish I had a picture of this guy (putting it on my to do list for my day off). He is HUGE. Biggest guy of the herd. And he was not budging from his spot. I showed him pellets, even let him have a few and he started shaking his head (that's cow talk for back the heck up lady!). Once Nino saw that the rest of the heard was no where near him he got a bit confused and started calling out to everyone and trying to find a way out. We led him back to the gate. That sounds way easier than it was. In total it took about an hour to get him on the right path, but once we did he was happy to rejoin the herd. And now, I'm super tired from clapping my hands and saying "C'mon Nino!" But it was a great day! I love any time I get to spend with the cattle because I don't feel like I get to hang with them all too often. And the more I hang out with them the easier it is to see how they communicate with each other and with humans. It really is such an awesome experience, looking into the eyes of a cow. They are soooo beautiful!

Breakfasting with Bovines

I got totally distracted here on my day off and ended up making a short video with the cows. Enjoy! And ignore the complete color fade mid way through...I pushed some button and it screwed things up, which is sad because Harrison is a beautiful red head! This is a rough vid, horribly edited, and poorly shot, but it was just for fun and a bit on a whim! Stay tuned for the next episode which will be much better!!! Also be aware that this video is dripping in complete geekiness hahah! I can't help it! Farm Sanctuary brings out the geek in me :)

You Gotta Be....

This morning I opened. *deep and wonderful breath* I LOVE opening. It was such a crisp morning everything smelled dewy and I always enjoy my morning walk to the shelter office when the sun is just coming up. I look behind me to see the cattle already grazing on the hilly pasture and look below to see the geriatric cows, Joni, Neal, and Hank doing the same. Then I try to contain my giddiness. I would have thought, a month into this internship, that the excitement would wear off, but it seems to be growing. When I played derby, after practice I would always say that my lungs felt happy from such a good workout. They really did. They felt filled with fresh oxygen and really strong. I felt my best after practice. Anyways, Farm Sanctuary is to my soul what derby practice was to my lungs. Whoa check that analogy out...haha! So yeah, still loving every day here.

After I opened I helped Leanne wrap Curly's busted horn, one of the sheep from the Iso Santa Cruz herd. I had to pretty much stand with him between my legs and hold his good horn with one hand and his chin with another. He did a really good job :) I really am enjoying any time I get to assist or just watch the caregivers with different treatments.

I then drove the scary van to Chico to drop of fecal samples at the vet and pick up feed. There was also a failed pit bull rescue mission between Orland and Chico. Two of them were running up and down the farm street and I tried to get them but they were scared and ran off. Hope they are okay.  As I was driving into town "You gotta be" by Des'ree came on the radio. Nostalgia! Took me back! That was my first ever cassette tape. I remember cleaning up all my barbies that were scattered around the room to that tune. Let us reminisce:



By the time I got back I had a couple hours of barn cleaning to do and then we had our monthly Chico shopping trip.

I'm going to throw in a few more photos. These are nothing new to people who I'm friends with on facebook, but to all you other readers out there:

 

Me and Coco. This is that goat hug I was talking about in a previous post. YES they hug, and it's the best thing in the whole wide world! Far better than any human hug!

Buddy and Chili playing with my shoe laces. 

 I don't know who this pretty lady is but I think the picture turned out well.

If that isn't just the best smile ever...and that's coming right out of a nap! That's Johnny :)

 Bo looks a little freaked out here! Hahah!

Okay, more photos later. Blogger uploader is being super slow!