Heartland Farm Sanctuary Work Day...Volunteers in Madison Needed!

Some of our current animal residents with founder Dana Barre.



I have mentioned the Heartland Farm Sanctuary in a few posts on here, but I have some really great news to share with every one…a VERY generous family in the community has donated a home for our sheltered farm animals!!! A lovely family in the Madison area has donated their barn and over 25 acres of fenced pasture to the Heartland Farm Sanctuary, which means all of our animals can now be at one place, together! This is absolutely fantastic news, and I’m so excited to share this!




Now, the goal of HFS is to have the animals all moved to this new location as soon as possible, but a lot needs to be done to the barn/land to make it “animal-ready”. So, they are having a work day for anybody interested in donating some time to help prepare the land! The work day is scheduled for this Saturday, December 11, from 8:00 am until whenever. According to the email, it would be great if anybody who wants to help could bring the following items (if you already have them):

*Very warm outdoor clothes and boots (hello! It’s December in Wisconsin!)
*Hammer, electric screwdriver, heavy-duty nails and screws
*Work gloves
*Cardboard boxes
*pitchfork, shovel, pickaxes
*Wheelbarrow, heavy-duty outdoor brooms

If you would like to help, you can rsvp at dana.barre@heartlandfarmsanctuary.org . Also, if you are unable to help, but know someone who might be interested, please pass this information along! This is super exciting, because now the sanctuary finally has room to help even more animals in need of rescuing, which is so desperately needed in the Midwest! From what I hear, the barn is just a little bit outside of Madison, in Verona, I think, so if you can come out, that would be super-duper awesome. The more help HFS has, the sooner we can get all the animals moved out and comfortable, and the sooner we can start helping more critters that need it. So please, think about stopping by and lending a helping hand if you can! This California girl has honestly never used a lot of the “tools” that are needed (pickax?? I don’t even know what that is!), but I’m still going to offer any help I can. You don’t have to be a farm-pro, but just willing to put in some time to help the animals and a great cause. I’d love to see you guys out there, and maybe even meet some of my local followers!




*photo credit*
All photos are not my own. Found via Google Images. Please let me know if a photo is yours and you do not want it on here. Thank you!

Look at the animals you save by going Vegan!

Alright, folks. Remember way back when I posted an entry about the Heartland Farm Sanctuary, a non-profit organization starting out here in Wisconsin? Well, a really super duper awesome extraordinary story was just written up about them, and I’d love for everyone to check it out. This organization, founded by Dana Barre, is something that is totally needed in the Midwest right now, and the more money she can continue to raise, the faster we can help rescue more farm animals! Even if it’s $5…every little bit can help this amazing organization. Also, if you’re local to Madison, there is a fundraiser event in November that you should definitely look into attending! I volunteer with the animals on a weekly basis, and it is such a great experience. After the stress of the workweek and everyday life in general, it’s nice to escape to this little farm where the animals are being housed until the Sanctuary can raise enough funds for their own land and interact with these incredible animals. Honestly, look at these photos, and you’ll see what I mean! So, check out the story by clicking here, it would be great if you could donate to the Sanctuary by going to their website here, or contact the Heartland Farm Sanctuary if you’re interested in helping out in any way!

LinkDump:

Full Story Here

Video Footage taken at the Interview/Story Here

Heartland Farm Sanctuary Website Here (Donate!)

“Like” the Heartland Farm Sanctuary on Facebook!

And, I can't have a post about cute and adorable farm animals without some cute and adorable photos of them!


Diana knows that she's my little princess!


All Animals should be able to live a life this good!


Ready to play!


The two pigs that were rescued after being found wandering around Milwaukee! Photo is not mine...was borrowed from the Heartland Farm Sanctuary Facebook page.


HFS Founder Dana Barre getting some love from the goats and sheep! Photo borrowed from Madison.com story.

This Bull is a Rockstar!

Reading this story brought tears to my eyes upon reading it. Although it wasn't a happy ending for all, one brave bull survived, and brought himself quite a bit of positive attention as well as allowing people to see face to face, where their precious food comes from...and a huge thank you to the Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY, for saving this beautiful creature. I'm sure he still has not gotten over the terror he saw or felt, and probably never will, but at least he'll be able to live out the rest of his life in a peaceful, and tranquil place where he'll never have to worry about being hurt like this again...

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – August 5, 2010 – A witness at the crash site called it “the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” Cattle walked the road smoldering or still on fire. Others lay dying on the pavement, with wounds so bad that their bones were showing. Out of this catastrophic nightmare bolted a lone determined bull, who despite suffering severe burns of his own, was so desperate to stay alive that he attempted to vault over a 3-foot concrete median. Early next week, this brave animal will arrive to a hero’s welcome at the upstate New York shelter of Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, where his wounds will be gently treated and his traumatic ordeal put behind him. Soon, he will roam green pastures, bond with new friends, and live freely, as all cattle should. Late Monday night, amid the sirens, flashing lights, terror, and confusion, nothing could have seemed further away.

The accident happened just before midnight, when a 1999 Peterbilt semi hauling 34 cattle headed west on I-94 crashed into a 2011 Volvo semi at State Road 49 near Chesterton, Indiana. The driver of the cattle trailer was on his citizens' band radio talking to another driver when he hit the rear of the other truck. According to Indiana State Police, the tractor caught fire and ruptured, releasing the terrified animals onto the highway. The truck's driver dove out his window to escape the fire, but 18 of the 34 cattle perished, and others were injured. Of the 16 cattle who survived, seven attempted to escape with their lives, but as of 6 a.m. Tuesday, all had been accounted for, except one. According to Indiana State Police Sgt. Ann Wojas, the determined 2-year-old bull attempted to jump the 3-foot concrete median into the eastbound lanes but didn’t make it. After eluding capture for 12 hours and winning the respect and admiration of local residents moved by the story of a slaughterhouse-bound bull who literally rose from the ashes to save his own life, the courageous animal was caught by local officials and taken to the Porter County Animal Shelter, where he currently awaits safe transport to Farm Sanctuary.

“Farm Sanctuary is happy to take in this bull, who has experienced unimaginable horrors over the past several days,” said Farm Sanctuary National Shelter Director Susie Coston. “Every year thousands of animals die in transport accidents like the one witnessed by Indiana residents on I-94 last week. All too often, animals who survive these accidents are shot on site; rarely are they afforded veterinary care. To see so many people come forward and make a concerted effort to save this animal’s life shows a level of compassion seldom extended to animals raised for food, who deserve as much consideration as any other animal. We hope that his story of survival will help spread compassion for these animals far and wide and bring awareness to the need for laws that better protect farm animals during transport.”

The runaway bull follows in the footsteps of other daring animals who famously made dashes for freedom and now spend their days enjoying the peace and abundance of Farm Sanctuary’s New York Shelter — including two crafty cows named Maxine and Queenie, both escapees from a Queens slaughterhouse, whose stories have changed thousands of hearts and minds about animals and food.

To read the full story, click here.

Want to help animals like this bull, but cannot make it to New York?? Look into helping at our local farm sanctuary, the Heartland Farm Sanctuary right here in Madison!

Weekend Treats!

So I know that it’s already Wednesday, but I had such a goodie-packed weekend that I just wanted to share! Now, don’t judge me, I haven’t had a sweet thing in ages, and my new medication is starting to kick in finally so I’m exercising like a crazy woman, and I thought I deserved a little indulgence this weekend!! Friday night, Julian and I went to our favorite 100% vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Madison, the Green Owl, just for dessert and drinks, since we had already had a nice dinner by the time we craved sweets! We usually try to get different desserts when we go here, so we can try each other’s, but this time, there was one dessert that just really stuck out to both of us, and I’m glad we each had our own piece, otherwise there may have been a fight…haha! We both got the vegan berry tart, which was a vanilla-rosemary shortbread filled with a vanilla custard and topped with fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries! *Heaven* in my mouth!!! We washed this down with a lovely drink made with their own homemade Pineapple Rum…which I think may now be up there in Julian’s all-time-favorite-rums (second only to my mother’s homemade Ginger Rum, of course!)! All in all, another successful experience at the Green Owl!



Saturday, I started off my morning volunteering at a charity fundraiser for the Heartland Farm Sanctuary, which is quickly gaining notoriety in the Southern Wisconsin region! I think that, for the first big fundraiser that the Sanctuary has had, it was definitely a success! It was great seeing how excited kids got being around the farm animals, and the money it brought in for the Sanctuary was obviously great, too! It also got recognized on a few news stations, so that’s great too! I got home, sweaty, stinky, and yucky, and got a big grin from my boy…telling me he STILL had a sweet tooth even after our amazing dessert last night! So, I hopped in the shower, and hopped on Facebook, to see what a local bakery’s specials were that day. Just two short miles from our place is a very new cupcake shop called Bloom Bake Shop. Now, it is not all vegan, but they do always try to have an equal amount of vegan cupcakes each day to their non-vegan counterparts. Not to mention, they are insanely delicious! Well, considering every flavor looked good on the vegan cupcake front, we headed over for a little mid-day treat. I got the vegan vanilla butter cake filled with orange marmalade, topped with a dark chocolate ganash with an orange buttercream flower on top…100% vegan, 100% delicious! Honestly, I don’t know how I didn’t gain 15 pounds this weekend!!

Can you say, insanely delish?!


I must say though, sweets aside, I did keep my diet in check the rest of the weekend…aside from the sweets, we did a raw veggie weekend, and it was great! There are so many delicious veggies in season right now, that our selection definitely wasn’t lacking, and I got to put my brand new eco-friendly knife set to use chopping up all our lovely veggies!! Thanks for the great Prepology knives, mommy!!