I recently had my first Couch Surfing experience when I went up to
Orland (near Chico) to work on the Farm Sanctuary this past weekend.
It was a long, but drama free drive up the I-5 and I am eternally
grateful for my road tripping musical soundtrack consisting of:
Karsh Kale, DJ Cheb I Sabbah, Radiohead, Bjork...to name a few.
I arrived into Orland, CA Friday August 1st just past 7 pm. I didn't
know what to expect which makes the adventure more fun and
when I pulled into the farm community of Orland, I was reminded
of our own little quaint cities near Ventura such as Fillmore and Santa Paula. Here, the air is different.
Drier, hotter and unrelenting. The company? Warm, generous and comfortable...
Mason, Robin and their family pretty much treated me like one of their own. I couldn't have had
a better experience. The only drawback now is that how are all the rest of my couch surfing experiences going to compete to this?
For starters, I wasn't sleeping on a 'couch'. I had a sun room,
with a lovely day bed that over looked their backyard.
And when I say 'backyard', I mean 'mini farm/garden/lounge area'.
They had a tiki lounge area, a sand box for their kids, a tree house,
a growing garden, chickens and roosters......
and they fed me and fed me...it was truly paradise! :0)
The next day was the first time working at the Farm Sanctuary.
Well, working on any farm for that matter. I met with Kerrie who
showed me the ropes and we headed to the turkey barn where
the 'senior' turkey ladies were waiting for us. We cleaned and cooed
and I listened to Kerrie talk very soothingly to the ladies.
It made me smile. I felt like I was at home amongst my 'people'....
And that's what we did the rest of the day. Raked and shoveled
dirty hay, replaced it with clean hay. I saw turkeys, pigs, cows, ducks, chickens, roosters, cats, sheep, goats and
a very cute Vegan boy from Canada. :0)
The next day I worked with Jamie. She was funny and crazy.
With her daily dose of caffeine she attempted to relay what I had to do which was feed the animals. Needless to say, I just nodded and tried to keep up.
What was so interesting was hearing how the animals got there in the first place. The sheep which are nicknamed the Santa Cruz sheep were rescued from the Santa Cruz islands when the Nature Conservancy decided it didn't want non-native animals inhabiting the island.
So...a helicopter flew over the island gunning down the sheep and the ones that are at
The Sanctuary are all that are left.
Cupid, who was by far my favorite...is this black and white cow
with a white heart shape on his forehead. He fell from a transport truck onto a CA freeway and was later discovered in an orchard by animal control officers. From the tag on his ear, the officers determined that he was likely acquired at a nearby auction and would have been slaughtered
for veal-a fate common among male dairy calves of no use to the industry. Ironically, he was found on Valentine's Day...hence the name: Cupid.
He also likes to head butt humans. It's his way of being affectionate. He's amazing.....
There was one thing that Jamie said to me...that kind of hit home.
We were feeding the ducks and there's one little feisty one called Penny. She had a tendency to nip at your ankles and shoes...and I was a bit wary of being near her. I have to admit, I was a tad bit annoyed. Jamie just laughed and said to me, "I like when they fight
back and try to bite me! It's like they're trying to show us: you can't mess with me!".
It was a reminder of their journey, how they ended up at
the Sanctuary malnourished, abused and some times
too sick to fight back. Now, it's a completely different story...
As some of you know, I've been Vegan for about 6 years now.
I don't tout my lifestyle like some do, I just live by example.
Working at the Farm Sanctuary really impacted me in so many
ways and just confirmed why I do what I do.
Here's their website: http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmZhcm1zYW5jdHVhcnkub3JnLw==
And if you want to put into action and help the farm animals.
Vote yes on Prop 2: http://www.farmsanctuary.org/actionalerts/alert_campaign07_2.htm
On the drive home, I started reading signs and making up
quarky poems...these are actual signs that I saw on the side of the road driving on I-5:
Speed enforced by aircraft
Dessert is not a treat its a necessity
Peace
Eat ripe fruit for goodness sake
Crows landing
Tom Mcleod slept here
70
Life is still good even if it flops
Choose Life
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What else is there to say? :0)
Love to you all....
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