As I typed out the title to this post, a little voice in my head said, “Are you SERIOUS?!?! The END of May? How can that even be possible?” The month seems to have flown by in that weirdness that is time sometimes, so I thought I might rest in the little barn for a bit and share some updates. If you’ve followed our Facebook posts, you already know some of these happenings, but it helps me to write it all out in one piece ~ call it reflection brought about by the smell of hay. 😊

Resting in the Little Barn

            Before yesterday, I did spend time in the little barn with the cats, but I never sat on a chair in the hay, trying to type a blog post with a beautiful brown head resting on my forearm and ensuring that I have the AutoSave turned on. Cricket has come such a long way in just 24 hours! He comes to me slowly, reaching out his head until I gently begin stroking him under his chin. After a minute or two of this, he just leans into me, eyes going to slits, warm breath passing over my arm.  Mary, the mother of group, stands just behind Cricket, watching, watching, watching.  She’s moving closer every time she comes in the barn behind her son, but it’s closer by inches. Maybe by quarter inches. And baby Bella sometimes pokes her head around both of them to look at me ~ yellow eyes in a face that’s solid black, and like her mother, watching, watching, watching.

            These are our Ambassador Sheep. They are Shetland Sheep, strong, calm, and healthy, and as time passes, they will learn trust.  When any other sheep come to us, they will be better for having a herd to join. Our Ambassadors will help the new ones learn the rules and routines and settle calmly into their new home. And this might happen a lot sooner than we had thought! While at a wedding this past weekend, one of the groomsmen told us that he and his wife have a male lamb that is destined for the slaughter house unless he comes to Sundance. We are working hard to make a safe quarantine area for this little one. We have a plan, and it’s been okayed by our vet. Now to do the work and do it quickly! I’ll keep you posted.

All Things Horses

            Thanks to volunteering at The Barn for Equine Learning, I have fallen in love with ponies and mini-horses, and we are working to finish a stall in the Little Barn that will be big enough so that we can provide a forever home to two or three of them.  The thing is, though, that the contacts I’ve had this past month have been to help full-sized horses, not ponies or minis.   One of the contacts was from a woman who came to the Sanctuary and asked if we could give a home to her horse because she was not able to provide food for him for another winter. She truly wants what’s best for her horse; she is caught, like many are, making decisions about her own food and her horse’s food.  She was the first one I’ve had to say no to, and it just didn’t sit well.  It was the right decision ~ we just don’t have stalls or fencing yet for a full-size horse; it was just a difficult call to make.

            The good part of this story is that saying no was extremely motivating. John and I went out to our big barn ~ the one that’s in really not-great shape and that had been used for dairy cows many years ago ~ and spent time strategizing.  Theoretically, if we clean out half of the basement, there is enough space for six full-size horse stalls.  There’s a very large opening that would be called a barn door if it had actual doors on it, and we can see an obvious path way to what would be called a horse pasture ~ if it had fencing around it. So the bones are there; what we need is workers to help us clean out the barn, a barn rehab expert to let us know how safely to build what we want, and money to afford all of this.

            Working with one thing at a time ~ and hearing Kevin Costner’s voice in my head saying, “If you build it, they will come” ~ I figured we needed volunteer help first to clean out the remnants of the dairy cows.  To make a long story short, on June 8^th, the Lakeview High School National Honor Society students are all coming to Sundance to begin the clean out process! I’m so excited ~ and so grateful that they all voted to spend the day with us, earning volunteer credits and helping to create a welcoming place for unwanted horses! I’ll definitely keep you all posted on this one, too!

And Everything Else?

            Everything else is focused on planting season!  John has been raising so many perennials, annuals, herbs, grasses, and vegetables from seed in our basement that it’s been good to start transferring that forest of seedlings to their outside home. 😊 The vegetable garden was planted this past weekend, and he’s putting many perennials into our new cutting flower garden.  We’re diligently watering the apple, pear and oak trees, along with the elderberry, lilac, forsythia, and butterfly bushes ~ and we’re so thankful every time it rains!

            Steve and Dave have upped their “mouse-gifts,” and although they’ve definitely discovered where the chickens are, all they’re doing at the moment is waiting outside the coop whenever I go inside to feed or bring fresh water to the chickens. And about the chickens ~ they’re growing so fast! They sound like grown-up chickens now, and three of them ~ George, Bonnie, and Clyde ~ are very content when human hands reach out to stroke their breast feathers.  I’ve discovered that they do not like fresh kale, but they love blackberries! I’ve also discovered that they can make me laugh. Like Chicken Little running around with her message of doom and gloom, our crew runs around the coop at seemingly no provoking. Their heads are pushed to the absolute limit of their necks, their wings are plastered tight to their bodies, and their little legs just move. At some point, they stop. I have no clue why, but they all just stop, turn around, and settle down.

And Here Comes June!

            Dr. Barski, the Sanctuary’s vet, was here this morning to check Cricket, Mary and Bella. All three are in great health, and I learned a ton of new information! June will begin with two pages of notes to research, a group of high school student volunteers to prepare for, and a quarantine pasture to fence in. But that’s for tomorrow. For today, there are sheep to talk to, chickens to tend, cats to share time with, and always my Vega prancing around with her ball in her mouth.  Take care, Everyone!