Saturday, as in tomorrow June 17, is our Love Day here at the farm. I'm trying a new set up in the front gardens, rather than letting people parade around the farm and barns. That was then, this is now. We have a little paddock we built out front by the Lovey Hut/Gallery where The Teapot and Stink Cartwright will be. Stink will also be doing some Flower Power work, handing out English daisies. Harry the llama will be in his trailer for greetings and the Lovey Mobile will be open so people can sit in her and enjoy the views, look out at the goats and horses in the fields, and learn more about our farm and mission and what we hope the Lovey Mobile will become. Peso will be brought in too.
I'm happy The Teapot will be helping, especially since she is in charge and obviously provides a calm role model for little Stink. The Teapot had two little girls that loved her and took care of her, but as happens, they grew out of her and wanted 'real' horses and The Teapot got put on the back shelf. She also gained a lot of weight. So we took quite a bit off on her early months here. But I bring it up because when I groom her, or do her hair up all girly, I can tell she really likes it. It makes me think she remembers being the centre of the hearts of those little girls. So I like to do that for her-give her girly days.
I hope we get some visitors. When we did our first two open farm events pre-Covid, the turnout was great-it was in October. I'm wondering if I should have done it then. But, I wanted to get Stink out there and start working with Lovey mobile. Getting volunteers is getting harder and harder. Two of the four volunteers became ill, one with Covid, so I was able to snag a new one yesterday. I lost my most loyal volunteer, Polly, a year ago to cancer and I miss her a lot. She would have loved Stink, and Lovey! She was so loyal and enthusiastic to what we are doing. I hope she'll be with us tomorrow.
I've never had a 'bad' event. Somehow something magical always happens with the animals and it all works out. I hope tomorrow will be like that.
Mainly, I want it to be a positive experience for Stink, Teapot, Harry...and Peso the old donkey who I plan to bring in. And of course, we are looking for donations. This area has so much wealth, a lot. I have worked hard to get our work out there-by writing articles for the paper-and I feel I just haven't cracked the lid on that -yet. I do have some loyal larger donors and it is so helpful to the health of our farm. We appreciate small donations too! But the larger ones help provide a cushion. Still, I get donations for locals, often they read my articles and it makes me feel like someone is noticing. In the meantime, we go about our work!
So maybe I'll see some of you there!
