Did you guys know that Woodstock Farm Sanctuary just moved? And they are having a FREE grand re-opening party on Sept. 5th! It’s gonna be CRAY. Like, the best party of the year. Cinnamon Snail, Monk’s Meats and Yeah Dawg are all gonna be there selling yummy vegan food! There’ll be music and snacks and fun and best of all: ADORBS RESCUED ANIMALS!!!!!
So as my friend Jess just started working there, she invited me up to get a sneak peek of the new digs and meet all the animals. Basically, MY DREAM COME TRUE. Now, let me take you on a photographic journey of all the amazingness so you can get hyped for the party.
The place is beautiful. This gazebo over looking the water greets you by the entrance. That’s my dear sister Cally enjoying a nice seat.
This is “the manor” that will eventually be the accommodations for visitors to stay over night. Not until like 2016 or so, but how picturesque, amirite?!
Now, here’s the barn! This is the big event space. So cute, yes? Hint: YES.
Ok so the first animals I met were these hilar ducks! They were gabbing away to each other like, “who’s this weird chick taking pictures of us ew I hate her let’s go over here maybe she won’t follow oh man here she comes again.”
And as many of you know, all the animals at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary are rescued from various bad situations. And as I found out, the sanctuary has a policy of not accepting animals that were bought as a means to rescue them, because this obviously supports the farm animal industry. So all these animals were either seized or people just begged farmers to let them go. These guys here would have probably been peking duck I was told, and some were even being raised for foie gras!!! So sad. But now they are happy little chatterboxes. And their pond in the new space is WAY bigger than their old one. They seemed v pleased.
This is Fred. He turned out to be my best friend. We met him with the ducks, that’s his crew (all the roosters have their own crews) because he gets in fights with the other roosters. That Fred! Such a rascal. Anyway, I met him with the ducks and he was shy about coming out of his house. But then I pet him a bit and he was v sweet. BUT THEN LATER! We were all the way at the other end of his enclosure, like hundreds of feet, and he came running over to see us! I’m not even kidding. He was so interested and wanted to hang. That Fred! *heart eyes emoji*
This is Kellan. He’s a cool dude. He would have been sold for cheap goat meat because him and his lady friends had a very common, treatable illness. But why spend money to treat an animal if they are just a commodity right? Smh.
Now these pretty ladies were all destined to be chicken dinners. They are plump girls and have to be on special diets because chickens used for meat have been bred to grow so big, their bodies can’t really support their weight. And did you know chicks of this type are full grown at 2 months? That’s when they would have been killed. These girls are all around 4 years old!
These girls are slimmer, they were rescued from a life in battery cages as egg-laying hens. They told me at the sanctuary that a typical hen will lay about 60 eggs a year, but egg laying hens like these ladies lay about 360 a year! This totally depletes their bodies’ resources. The sanctuary actually collects their eggs and makes a mash, shell and all, with other nutrients and feeds it back to the girls so they can be healthy. They also collect the eggs so they don’t get any surprise chicks. This way they they have space and resources to rescue more girls who are suffering in the egg industry.
This is Pierre! A handsome and proud rooster. He’s no Fred but I like him.
But most importantly of all, I MET LEXI!!!!!! She’s the newest piglet at the sanctuary. You can read her whole story here, but basically she was going to be designer bacon or something when a culinary student rescued her and brought her to the sanctuary. She is just THE SWEETEST little baby. She was hanging out with the teenage goats including Kellan. But she was running around so funny! And her tail was wagging and she was basically just the cutest thing in the world. Look at her pink boots! Above you can see we finally got her to stand still for a minute, she’s totally smiling for the picture!
This is when she flipped her food bowl over and couldn’t figure out how to flip it back. Spoiler: This tactic didn’t work.
This is an older goat, Samuel. Check out those bedroom eyes!
And this is the famous Fawn! Fawn had injured both her front legs as a baby and didn’t get proper treatment, so she was actually walking around on her poor front knees! But Woodstock took her to the vet and they fitted her with braces and now look at her, she’s walking around like a champ!
And finally, we met the big cows. OMG THEY ARE SO BIG. We didn’t even go in and pet them because Cally was like so scared. Ok I may have been scared too. I mean, they are HUGE. But they seem sweet. This is Dylan, he was rescued from a veal farm. Can you believe it? Now he’s almost 2000lbs! It’s crazy how short a life all of these animals would have had if they hadn’t been rescued. A short, miserable life. I’m so happy Woodstock is here to help them all. It’s a really wonderful organization! And it’s so great that they have such a nice place to call home now. It’s so big, all the animals have so much space! Like seriously the new place is SIX TIMES the size of the old place. Yay! Lucky animals!
So, if you want to meet all these amazing animals and support the work of Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, September 5th is the day to do it! It’s from 11am to 5pm, free, and it’s going to be so much fun. You can get info and all the directions on the event page.
But of course, if you can’t make it, or just can’t wait to show your support, you can always donate! The sanctuary is still fundraising for the property, they have to pay off the mortgage
and also pay for all the new barns and improvements. You want those goats to have a fun playground, right?! So donate! But really you should donate AND go to the re-opening because PARTAY!