The following post is an archive of our GoFundMe campaign which began in 2020.
Hello everyone,
Time for some news from the animals: Almost all of them are now in Metchosin on the winter farm where they continue to receive all the care they need. They have all settled in nicely, but winter isn’t everyone’s favourite season. Depending on the weather – which has already been rather wet and windy this fall – the goats especially spend lots of time inside their cozy barns always cuddled up closely to their buddies. On those days they barely venture out into the field for any amount of time and outside grazing barely happens. Instead they totally rely on “their” staff to get served yummy hay twice day day. But luckily on the days when the sun comes out once in a while, the goats take a break from the winter and just enjoy the sun on their backs. I sometimes think if they could they would like to hibernate and dream of the sunny summer to come.
The alpacas on the other hand just love being outside in the field. The weather has to be arctic or extremely wet that they eventually decide to use their shelter and even then they will still look out and wait for a break in the rain. They are real optimists!
The ducks deal quite well with wet conditions, but even they enjoy having access to the barn whenever they like. The chickens on the other hand are seen roaming and pecking around in their outside yard in a light drizzle, but a bit more rain and they are heading for safe shelter.
Our miniature horse Peanut Butter and her two donkey friends Opal and Taffy also don’t really care for getting wet at all, they patiently hang out in their barn waiting for the storm to blow over. And as long as they can be together, they are very content. Once the sun comes out again so do they. When the weather is about to turn really freezing we’ll dress Peanut Butter in her warm blanket again. The old lady at her proud age of 29 years is very sensitive and likes to be bundled up.
Our eight guinea pigs ladies always live indoors so they might not really know if it’s raining outside. But they certainly feel the change in temperature and since they like it warm and cozy, they enjoy their heat lamp now and we’ve built them a little village out of their many houses and hills of hay. And every time we clean their area we change it up a bit and they love to explore it all over again.
Leo, our farm cat, seems to think that we humans are entirely responsible for the bad weather. On rainy days he tries to look very pityful and he complains constantly. And since we have proven unable or unwilling to change the weather conditions in his favour, he demands compensation in the form of treats and cuddles.
And then there is Maple: the piggy is about as sensitive to the weather as Leo. That is one more similarity these two are sharing apart from their gorgeous black colour and the certain conviction that they are the most important of all our animals. On a sunny day Maple really is the sweetest and happiest man, he cuddles, plays and even “sings” to his humans. But on a rainy days his mood can be as dark as the sky, he barks at his humans, only leaves his barn for a trip to the bathroom and even his beloved food only lifts his spirit for a short time. It almost appears as if he, too, blames us for the bad weather. But we all have bad days sometimes, cloudy and rainy days might pull us down, too, so his behaviour can be excused and we all know that the sun will come out again.
Before Halloween Maple already got a great surprise and that day he certainly was very happy pig. He got to have and carve out his very own pumpkin. Possibly he got a bit overly enthusiastic on the carving of the pumpkin, because in the the end there was nothing left it. But he had a blast!
Most of the staff are laid off now because with the animals mostly in one location we could cut back on staff in order to save some costs. However, we are still going to visit the animals regularly as they are a very important part of our lives and we grew really close to them. We will volunteer some of our time to help out when needed as work on and around a farm never stops; be it animal care, renovations and maintenance, computer work and of course planning for, and dreaming of, the new season.
I’m so happy that we are still receiving continuous support through this campaign even though the animals are not in town anymore. I was really worried that they would slowly fade out of people’s minds but we received many donations of different sizes since the last update including some very generous ones. But it’s not really the size that is most important, what truly counts is that it all helps. It adds up, brings us closer to our goal and most importantly it helps us to keep on providing for the animals. A heartfelt THANK YOU to you all!
Now, I just like to wish you happy and safe Halloween from all of us at the farm.
Stay safe, be kind to each other and look out for that ray of sunshine coming through the clouds,
Claudia

