Farm Sanctuary!

[butterbean]

It is amazing! My DH and I got the opportunity to go this past weekend and loved it. We went to the one in Watkins Glen, NY. I would encourage anyone that gets a chance to head that way.

[Erin Pavlina]

What was it like? What did you see? Did they feed you lunch, and if so, what did they serve?

[butterbean]

First of all, its was AMAZING!!! We will be going back any chance we get. The people on the farm are just wonderful. They really are doing a great thing!

We started out in the People Barn/Gift shop area. They have lots of info posted about factory farmimg, how they started, why they started... They have lots of great stuff in their gift shop area. We picked up some great books, shirts, mugs, dog stuff, food stuff, the list goes on and on.

The animals were wonderful. Each one has a story and they have many. The young lady that showed us around was very informative and answered all the questions I had. She was really great.

I was excited to see the cow named Freedom. This is the cow that escaped from the slaughterhouse in Ohio this summer, jumped a 6 foot wall to get out of there!! Freedom is now doing well and frolicking with the rest of the herd...after jumping yet another fence to be with them!! The FS people had put Freedom in a separate area just to get used to things, but soon jumped the fence to be with the rest of the herd!!

We visited so many animals and it was amazing to go up to these huge (and I mean HUGE) cows and pigs and just start giving belly rubs or looking into their eyes. One of the cows in the pasture we were in was this bull that was just an amazing size, but gentle as can be. It was a veal calf. Another cow was 27 years old!! The pigs were so much fun to watch and to give belly rubs to. When you began rubbing their bellies they just roll right over, getting all comfy. They loved the attention. We also saw goats, sheep, bunnies, geese (some that are just fly in visitors!), turkeys, chickens...

When visiting the turkeys I gave alot of thought about the holiday that is coming up. I personally don't eat meat, but I know lots of people do and are unaware of the condition these turkeys are in! We seem to talk about chickens alot, but forget about the turkeys. Just like the chickens, the turkeys were debeaked (VERY sad) and their toes had been cut, so not to claw each other when smashed in those tiny cages. And the turkeys were so large and had such a hard time just walking. They just don't look anything like a wild turkey. If you have ever seen a turkey in the wild you know they are lean with brown feathers. The turkeys we saw are very fat with white feathers (breed to give white meat).

Most all the geese have the ability to fly away, their wings had not been clipped, but they stay at FS. Many times geese will just fly in for a visit! They have one wild canadian goose that flew in and stayed and is the leader. It is so funny to see this canadian goose with the rest of them. There is a specific goose that was very badly abused and her wings now flip out in an odd way. Many times geese are nailed to the floor to keep their livers fatty so the froi gois is tasty. I just know so many people are not aware of this. They all seem very happy now and were honking away.

If you ever get a chance to go to one of the Sanctuaries, GO! They have one in NY and CA. They have recently purchased land outside of Los Angeles and it looks like they will be building their third sanctuary.

I think it would be great to go back and stay in one of their cabins (the B&B). I got the info on it, so perhaps next year we will plan on that.

They had plenty of info on area restaurants that offered vegan options, so we had lunch in Watkins Glen at a small cafe the guide recommended.

After lunch we decided to head over to Ithaca and spend a bit of time. The Moosewood Restaurant is in Ithaca so we had dinner there. It was delicious! Their vegan option was this great stew full of veggies that was slightly sweetened with chunks of pear. We also had a delicious vegan pear crumble desert.

We did a bit of shopping around Ithaca the next day. We went to this store called Wild Wares to look for a pair of hiking boots (the FS guide recommended it). We each got a pair of shoes made by Garmont. My DH got boots and I got shoes and the styles were specifically labeled as being vegan in the companies brochure. We also stopped at the co-op and picked up some stuff we can't find were we live. We also noticed at he co-op that they had these small vegan bunt cakes in orange and chocolate flavors in their deli, so we took one of each with us...YUM! The best vegan cake I have ever had, delicious!

We had an amazing time and I am so happy we took the time to go for a visit

[Erin Pavlina]

Great report! You should write an article about your experience for VegFamily. Email me at info@vegfamily.com if you're interested and I'll give you an idea of what the article should include. :)