The following post is an archive of our GoFundMe campaign which began in 2020.
Hello everyone,
I hope you’ve all been able to spend a joyful and relaxing Holiday season and had a good start into 2021 – despite the many unusual circumstances we all had to incorporate this year. 2020 has finally come to an end I guess we are all pretty happy to see it go as this year has presented many of us with a lot of challenges and unfamiliar situations. But we’ve also succeeded to find solutions for these new problems, developed creative ways to keep going along our own ways and tried out forms of staying socially close to each other while practising physical distancing. But no doubt, it was a hard year, that we’ll all managed as good as we are able to.
Now that it is just behind us, I like to invite you to take one last look back because not everything in this year was bad. One time that stood out for me personally this past year was the month of April. Back then we had just started to adapt to having the farm closed in our usually very busy spring season with an uncertain future ahead and we were faced with many more problems and worries than solutions and answers anywhere in sight.
We had multiple momma goats about to give birth (among them my favourite girl Sunshine), many night shifts with not much sleep but with the hope of being able to help the expecting mums and to welcome new little members of our farm family. Many of these memories are muddled together for me: the heartbreaking and tragic hours of Sunshine’s labour and delivery and my worst fear of loosing her too and then the almost magical moment when she accepted her nephew as her son and he nursed from her. For me it was pure joy to see Sunshine and Patch grow into this really close unit: Sunshine and Patch – the perfect match! And basically at the same time and out of our very desperate situation we started this fundraiser and the next “miracle” happened when it took off like our little goat pocket rockets racing around their yard. We were simply amazed how big and generous the community supporting us actually is. And this support for our farm wasn’t just a short lived phenomena. You all stayed with us and follow our path the entire time, bringing the animals through all these difficult months and the fundraiser took an extra big leap before Christmas. The support you have shown us and all the positive feed back we are getting along with all your inquires about the animals has been heartwarming. Sometimes I just run out of words: THANK YOU!
There were indeed many little rays of sunshine in 2020. For all of us at the farm our focus lays entirely on providing the daily care for the animals. Spending time with the animals every day sounds quiet mundane, but to us it is actually a very important duty and more significantly a huge and treasured privilege. It has a certain magic to it to witness them come into this world, maybe even help them along where necessary, see how they grow up and how they mature to first being eager teenagers and then to grow into determined adults and keep on providing them with all the care and love they need – especially once they get older. All our animals have very unique personalities and different needs – some more than others. Frankly, if I talk about each of them I would end up writing a book or more likely a series of novels. That’s why I decided to better let some the animals “tell you directly” of their adventures in 2020. I’ve tried to assemble a little video with short clips of our baby goats from this past year. They always put a smile on my face because aside from everything that 2020 had in stock for us these goats are simply awesome! Farm-tastic!!! I hope they make you smile, too.
There is also a little video of our big boy Maple when he discovers that all his beloved veggies were placed along the fence of his yard. But Maple proves to figure out this new game very quickly and nimbly picks up all the pieces. It certainly doesn’t take him long. Maple has been especially adventurous this past year and explored some unknown areas of the farm. He got so independent that some days he ended up where he wasn’t supposed to go at all. He proved to be very smart, sneaky and determined and really kept the staff on their toes. But I’m happy to say that he always was a really good boy and most often agreed easily to go back to his yard when he had taken a wrong turn (given the right motivation). And he made us have some good laughs!
The newest video is just a short episode with Peanut Butter and Opal (and Taffy in the background) who always love their cuddles. They look like little fluffy teddy bears on this snowy day.
Hope you enjoy the little videos of the animals and they brighten up your days especially in this extremely rainy and stormy weather. 2020 has been totally unpredictable, different and challenging to manage, but we are all hoping for a better season this year – as much back to normal and still as safe as possible. So let’s all work on making smart choices and safe actions for a happier and healthier future.
Everyone at the farm – four-legged and two-legged – wishes you all a very happy and healthy start into 2021 and a goat year for all of us.
Stay safe and always keep a smile in your heart,
Claudia
