Pino says good bye to his beloved porta potty

The Puppet has made his final Porta Potty movie. He kept the drama low this year.

We are celebrating our final Pino Pie Day on Sunday June 14 here at Apifera. You can come and enjoy my homemade pie, share hugs and touch with the many animals, feel the land we have worked so hard on and been blessed with, buy my books and art, or just sit by a tree. Please visit the information page before coming for tips and directions.

If you can't come, you can still support our efforts [Pie Day has been our main fundraiser each year to help me maintain the many needs of adopted The Misfits] at various, fun reward levels, like sponsoring a Prayer Flag for the Prayer Flag Tree, or getting a virtual kiss from Stevie. Just pop over to the Pino Pie funding page.

I want to thank the volunteers who are taking time to come this year- I could not, and won't, do it with out you.

Pino sets the date!

Pino has set the date for his big pie party!! Stay tuned for more details come spring!

If you are interested in volunteering this year, email me and I will add you to the list.

The donkey and I rev up for Pino Pie Day

It is now officially time for us all to get excited for Pino Pie Day! I can't believe it is only a few weeks away!

This year will be special in so many ways. Firstly, we had a scare with Pino as some of you know, and are just very happy the little fellow doesn't have something worse than a sarcoid [not that sarcoids on the sheath are pleasant for him or caretaker, but we will accept it and move on].

Pino wants me to promise not to talk about his privates at Pie Day, so I must obey that request. But it is hard not to say "Pino's privates" really fast. Maybe the Puppet will have to do it for me. Which reminds me- I know you are all waiting, WAITING, for Pino's Porta Potty Movie! Stay tuned.

So for the next few weeks I will be revving up my, and your engines–and hope many of you that follow the blog from the area can come. We already know our pie helper is coming again, for her...forth time, fifth?- all the way from New York City to help me with the pie baking. I have some new ideas for the event that I hope will let people understand how far some of these Misfits have come since arriving here-this is after all not only a day to celebrate pie, animals and all things Apifera, it is a day to drum up support-as in money- to help us offset the maintenance and care for these Misfits-many elderly and not in the greatest shape who need supplemental feed and vet care.

How can you help Apifera and Pino with his big day?

~ Donate - it takes money and time to throw this each year, bake the pie, and still manage to make some money so we gladly accept anything you throw our way.

~ Share this link

~ I still need some volunteers as a couple of my loyal helpers have moved away [collective moan from barnyard]. So email me if you are interested.


We are no longer accepting apron donations. It has been super fun, but also very demanding and Pino has evolved his wardrobe. He prefers his polk-a-dot pants now, or going au naturelle. We will have aprons at this year's event, but please don't send any more as we are full up to our ear tops in them! If you've already made one, please do send it, I'd hate for anyone to feel badly!

Get all the info you need for Pino Pie Day here.

Full speed ahead for Pino Pie Day

It's full speed ahead now for me and Pino to get all the pies baked and everything all set up nice for our guests. If you can't make it Saturday, June 15th for our big day - with apron and art sales helping me to maintain our Barnyard of Misfits - you can always chip in a couple of ways.

The Pino Pie Day page has all the info of the day - like please don't bring your pets - and directions.

So, the next time I write here I will be full of pie and Pino love. Until next week - with lots of photos!

Yes, really, the donkey sells aprons

If you've just started visiting the blog, you might not know that my little donkey Pino has been quietly selling vintage aprons and the sales help old and needy barn animal rescues. I decided to start putting many of those aprons up on Etsy, just easier for keeping track of things.

What? A donkey selling aprons? It all It all started with a broken heart, which led to many wonderful things as broken hearts often do. The pain was well worth the pot of gold at the other end of the rainbow. If you are just too tired to lift your itty bitty finger to 'click' that link above [and if you are tired, you should try to 'click' it because I think it will uplift you in a tiny way] I took a shine to aprons when I moved to the farm - they hold great stuff like eggs and hay twine, and I can wipe the runny nose of an old goat at whim.

I also loves to make pie and share it, and one day I took my little donkey, Pino, to a nearby farm, with pie - of course clad in an old apron. It made quite an impression. I shared the story with friends and little Pino started popping up in my art with an apron too. Before you knew it, the donkey was getting aprons in the mail - lots of them. So I decided to put them to good use.

Every June, the donated aprons are strung along a big clothesline at the farm's annual Pino Pie Day. Apron sales help other goat/donkey/barnyard sanctuaries [this year they will be split between New Moon Goat Rescue, Sanctuary One and Lavender Dreams Donkey Rescue - three places where all our adopted barnyard creatures are from and people we know and love their work. My fresh homemade pie is served as are donkey hugs - all for free, and my art and lavender are sold too.

So help us get a head start and shp for aprons. I'll be adding more this month. If you want to donate an apron, Pino loves mail.

Pino's annual Porta Potty Pitch!

You heard Pino, if you'd like to help, he's fine with that, but if you don't, that's okay too. We'd also like to thank Stella for taking time out from her morning to participate, free of charge. Pino Pie Day is an annual fundraiser at Apifera Farm where art, lavender and donated aprons are sold to raise money for needy and senior donkeys and creatures. Katherine shares her homemade pie.

Porta Potty Madness!

Thanks to all thouse who bought some lavender bud, and to the special people who donated money so that Pino could pick out his porta potty for the Pino Pie Day 201!!!

I underestimated the cost, so the extra money that trickled in on top of a couple generous donations made it all even steven. Don't you love that?

We will name the lovely people who helped us rent this very important piece of equipment for our special day:

Cathy B., Elida W., Cathy L, Justine T., Emma P., and Lisa G.

Thank you!

How to help Pino for Pie Day 2010

1] Send an apron: either hand made or one you find in the antique/thrift shop, Include your name and website link, or email, and tag it onto the apron if it is handmade. Safety pinning a tag on is fine. And make sure you send your mailing address and email for Pino - he sends thank you notes.

2] Become a Pino Pie Ambassador: No matter where you live, you can help Pino. Collect 10 aprons from your friends or coworkers, schoolmates, and send them to Pino by June 21. I'll add a link here to your site. Send your mailing address because Pino sends Ambassadors a little gift later in the year.

3] Pennies for Pino's Porta Potty:. Pino needs a wheelchair access porta potty. Get your children involved collecting pennies for him. We fin d the kids just love the porta potty for some reason.

4] Volunteer at Pie Day: Pie servers to keep the table tidy. Depending on what help I get from friends and others, I might need general helpers, so let me know if you want to be on the "Pino Call" list.

5] Spread the word: Twitter, blog and Facebook about the event!

6] Donations: We aren't a 501c, but ewe gladly accept donations. Money is used to purchase pie ingredients, insurance, supplies and promotions. We also save some donations to help needy senior animals, or have private Pino Pie Parties for those needing cheer [like last year's Hospice Day].

7] Make a pie. Share it with an elderly neighbor or person. Then write Pino and tell him all about it.

Update: 2 new Pino Pie Ambassadors!

Pino's new Facebook Page is gaining awareness, and we have two people that have already stepped up to become Pino Pie Ambassadors for the 2010 Pie Day. They will each gather 10 aprons and send them to Pino, and these aprons, when sold, will help raise money for the cause.

We want to thank Sharon Stanley [and Jubell the donkey] and Karen Grell Suesens [and Ophelia the donkey].

To see how you canhelp Pino on his 2010 Pie Day, read more here..

Pino's 'Call for Aprons'!

Stay tuned for the 2012 Call for Aprons - where every year people from all over the globe send vintage or handmade aprons to Pino as a donation for his annual Pie Day. The money from aprons sales is then donated to senior and/or needy creatures. A different animal charity is picked each year.

More help for Hospice Day

Received these charming fabric swatches/prayer flags for the August Hospice event. They came from donkey loving [she owns a donkey named Jubel] Sharon all the way out in Virginia. I thought I smelled donkey on them! Wink.

To find out how you can send prayer flags to Pino, click here.

Help for Hospice from Georgia

Wanda C. from Georgia sent us some embellished fabric squares to help with our August charity pie party for Hospice Caretakers. She wrote a nice noting saying her sewing wasn't great, but I assured it it looked darn good, especially since I sew raggedy style.

Thank you, Wanda!!

Learn more about the Hospice event and how you can help here.

Donkey mail continues

Well I hope you are visiting the Donkey Dream blog to keep up on all the wonderful packages and aprons and fabric swatches coming in for Pino...and cookies.

This is all I'll say, just go see some of the love pouring through the US Postal service to the little donkey...including a second package, wonderfully embellished, from Pino's secret admirer with a vintage apron and two fabric swatches for Hospice Day...will they someday reveal themselves? Could it be a donkey love from years past? A White House correspondant?

Have no idea why the donkey's getting aprons or fabric swatches? Read here, and here.

Another prayer flag for Hospice Day

What I love about blogs is how a small effort can reach many hearts.

This prayer flag came in from Chicago from Deborah Weber and we are proud to hang it on Hospice Celebration Day in August. We will be sure this message is read tot he winds:
"I am grateful for the support of hands and heartthat hospice workers gave my family. Thank you!"

Read more about how you or friends and family can share a prayer flag for our charity event in August. You can also send blank fabric squares that we will hand out at the event for people to write on.

Donkey's gettin' mail again

The aprons and fabric swatches have begun arriving. The mail woman is really into it this year! Upon handing me two Pino packages, she said, "Is it aprons?" This one was our first package, and, it had no name. That's a first, a Secret Pino Admirer...hmmmm...The package had sewing on it too, and the stamp selection, well, full of love, people!

I'll do my best to post arrivals over on the Donkey Dreams blog. But I want each person who sends something to know how much fun it is to get each package and open them up. Never is one less meaningful than another, really. What is fun too is new people are sending things as well as repeat Pino supporters.

If you are new to the blog, and have no idea why a donkey is getting aprons and fabric in the mail, read here, and here.

Participate in Pino's Hospice event

For those of you new to my blog, I love pie and I love donkeys, and after delivering pies one summer day with Pino at my side, I knew I had to somehow bring pie and Pino together and share it with others. Since Pino and I don't have a pie pulling truck [someday....] we host pie parties here at the farm, complete with a donkey hug area. We ask people to donate $5 and that money is then used to fund another free pie party for a cause we believe in. So this summer, the June 21st Pie Day [open to all] will help support our August Pino Pie's Hospice Celebration Day.

I'm just so excited for Pino Pie's Hospice Celebration Day to honor hospice care workers. The event is set for August 15th, and I'm working with one of Pino's supporters who is a hospice worker with Kaiser Permanente. She came to Pie Day last year and has been an avid supporter of both my art and animal causes. I have great respect for those who help the dying. While my hospice work seems to revolve around animals, I was so glad my father had the care of hospice in his final month. It also meant the world to my mother. I hope too that the event will help me build relationships with specific caregivers, who might have clients who would benefit from a Pino Pie Day with Pino.

How you can contribute or participate in Pino Pie's Hospice Celebration Day:

For the Hospice Care worker Celebration, 8" squares of fabric will be handed out to people, and they will write a brief note to thank a hospice worker, or send a prayer to someone they hospiced. Children will also be able to write on the squares. The squares will then be hung on the fence line here at the farm like prayer flags so people can read them during the event. Then I'll take the squares after the event and make them into a book, or something as a commemorative, and present it to my contact at Kaiser.

So I'm asking people to contribute 8" fabric squares, and you can have fun and embellish them [or not].
- Send us fabric squares. Important: leave the interior of the square open for writing. You can leave the square blank, or embellish like I did on this sample square.

- If you don't want to make a square[s], send a yard [or less] of plain natural fabric [white or lite colored cotton, muslin, linen, natural fabrics only].
- Did you experience the caring of a hospice worker in your family at some time? If so, send in a 8" square with your own hand written note on it, and it will be included in the event. You can simply write on the fabric with a Sharpie or black marker, write your first name and city/state.

- Send your items to Pino c/o Apifera Farm, 14710 NW Tupper RD, Yamhill, OR 97148

- Deadline: Please send as soon as possible. I want to send some squares to my Kaiser contact soon - so people that can't come can write on a square.

Donations: We are not a 501c. Our public pie parties [like the June 21st event] are paid for by us, all out of pocket. I make all the pies from scratch. We do not charge for the pie [this is illegal, for one thing]. We ask for a suggested $5 donation per car - that money helps us fund more pie parties for our causes - like this year's Hospice Celebration Day. Besides hosting the Pie Party for Kaiser's hospice caretakers, we hope to make a small monetary donation after the event to their hospice program. Some of the ways Kaiser uses donations is to offer free acupuncture services to hospice patients, or support their volunteers. If you want to send a donation, just let me know. We accept checks or Paypal.

Pino's annual call for aprons

That little donkey is at it again - he needs some aprons!

Pino will host a June 21st Pie Party which is open to the public here at our farm. We serve fresh homemade pie and people and children visit with the donkeys in the Donkey Hug Area. Last year we tried collecting aprons from blog readers and then we sold them at the event - the money went into Pino's bucket and is earmrked for Pino's Private Pie Days he has for needy people or others needing cheer.

This year, we are collecting aprons again for the June 21st Pie Day. Sales will help fund our August 15th charity event to honor the hospice caretakers of Kaiser Permanante.

If you want to donate an apron, either hand made or one you see in an antique store, please do so! It will help Pino continue to make pie and bring cheer to many. If you make one, make sure to include a handtag of some kind so the buyer can email you or see more of your work if you want.

All apron donators will get a surprise from Pino later in the summer. Send apron by June 20th. Mail to : Pino, c/o Apifera Farm, 14710 NW Tupper RD, Yamhill, OR 97148.

Donation for Pino