Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Paso Fino Mare saved

One American horse is slaughtered every 5 minutes. They have given themselves to their humans, all they could give, and now they stand in a scary kill buyers pen...no longer wanted. They are not old and sickly. Recently I have seen a young boys horse, his parents brought it to auction and the boy had to ride her at the auction. No one wanted her, the kill buyers got her....his parents drove him home. The look in her eyes said "where is my boy", frantically. A pair of white mares that were used to pull a carriage in weddings, now discarded in the kill pen, 2 year olds who haven't even had a chance yet. Pregnant mares. 7 month old babies. Miniatures, drafts, gaited, warmbloods, donkeys, mules, paints, Morgans, QH, stallions, no one is safe. 

I saw this horse a few days ago....she got stuck in my heart for some reason. I couldn't get her out of my mind, I cried for her every day. Today I bailed her out 2 hours before her deadline....the deadline to take a terrifying journey on an overstuffed trailer to Mexico. To be slaughtered....for Christmas. 
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8338/8270131557_d8b3f048df_z.jpg

Here she is, what a beauty. It says in her description that she is scared. She must have something special planned for me or one of the many children who come here to spend time with all my rescued horses, dogs and chickens.

She is safe now, but she does not have a home. I will give her a forever home but I can not afford to pay to get her here after paying to bail her out. 

I only have 24 hours to raise the money...$760. If lots of people could give a little then she can have a home for Christmas. She will come Thursday. Maybe you could contribute your time to help get an area set up here for her quarantine.

I have set up a Chip-in. You will see it on this blog. Please help if you can and share this post. If I can not raise enough to get her here I will promptly refund and monies donated.

Merry Christmas    

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Vegan Pancake Mix

 Vegan pancake mix

Heat up your skillet while you mix the batter.
1 cup wheat flour 
1 tablespoon sugar (I used organic cane sugar)
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup almond milk
2 tablespoons vanilla soy yogurt
Mix all ingredients together until just mixed. Fold in yummy extras (blueberries, apples and cinnamon, walnuts and bananas and carob chips, rasberries and carob chips).
Your griddle is ready, flip when there are bubbles in the middle. 

Vegan Pumpkin Cranberry chip muffins

Vegan Pumpkin Cranberry chip muffins


1 3/4 cups wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flax
1 cup sugar
1/4 t salt 
1 T baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t ginger
1/4 t allspice
1/8 t cloves
2 T chia seeds
1 cup pureed pumpkin (not pie mix)
3/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2 T molasses
chopped fresh cranberries
chopped walnuts
carob chips

Preheat oven to 400.Just cover chia seeds with water to soak. Sift together all dry ingredients. In a separate bowl whisk together pumpkin, almond milk, coconut oil, molasses and chia seeds. Mix wet and dry until just mixed. Fold in chopped cranberries, walnuts and carob. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 18-20 minutes until a knife until comes out clean. Allow to cool before eating.
 

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Celery cat

This is my celery cat. I saved him from the dump and now has a new life perched on the kitchen counter. 

Celery has been one of the best producers in the garden this year! Some came from seed but the rest has just been recycling itself. Cut off the bottom before using, drop the bottom (the part you usually compost) into a shallow dish of water for 24 hours and then plant in the garden. A new celery plant grows! Amazing! 
Or you can also do it this way...the celery cat way. Pull the plant, roots and all. Retain some of the roots when you bring it into the kitchen. Place the celery into your celery cat, or similar vase, and add enough water to just cover the roots. Just cut off the stalks you need, when you need them. Keep the roots wet but not the stalks. When you have used all the stalks replant in the garden.

When the freezing weather arrives pull the remaining plants from the garden. Place them in your root cellar/basement/what ever cool place you have. Keep the roots moist but not the stalks. You can use them from here all winter and what is left can be replanted in the garden in the spring! 

Monday, September 10, 2012

The final adventure

This is Barkley

I rescued him an hour after he was supposed to be euthanized. I rescued him to be my partner in search and rescue. He found a lost hiker, who had been given up for dead, before his wilderness certification was complete. This is him on his 10th birthday, September 16, 2001. He spent it searching the rubble of the WTC for victims. He helped find 7 souls that first week. 


This is Lizzie

 
She took over when Barkley died. This is her in Waveland Mississippi in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She located a missing woman, buried in the rubble of her home.

Both of these dogs were with me almost constantly, day and night, from the moment I rescued them until the moment they died. They had amazing hearts. The things they did I know were for me. They did some amazing things.

In the days following 9/11 everyone wanted to "do something". There was a group of 6 guys who hiked up Mt Liberty in NH and flew a huge American flag to honor the lives lost. It has become an annual event for volunteers to hike up all 48 4000' peaks and fly flags, simultaneously,  for 2 hours around September 11. 

I have had Barkley's and Lizzie's ashes all these years, not quite knowing the perfect place to spread them. I found out about this event and knew it was perfect. I was invited to go to Mt Washington, where one of the event founders was taking the original flag. 

We are in!!

 I decide that Ace, my search dog who never got a mission, would carry Barkley's ashes. This would be his mission. Stennis, who Lizzie and I found and rescued in Waveland, would carry Lizzie's ashes. Scout, 3 1/2 was, as always, up for a new adventure. We are heading up the shortest trail to the summit....read steepest.

Scout tried out the pack, for about 20 minutes, she hiked the rest of the way to Lakes of the Cloud Hut by herself. It was unbelievable. 5 hours, she wanted to do it, singing songs the whole way, amazing all those that passed her. The terrain was beautiful but physically challenging, she rocked it. Check out what she did.




























We had come to spread the ashes, but something else was happening. Scout was amazing us with her determination, stamina, enthusiasm for the beauty around every turn and her own made up songs she sang all the way to the top. We were not going to get to the top for the flag. That was ok, we would get there when we got there. We wanted the trip up to be shear pleasure for all of us, a trip to look back on and smile for all the wonderful memories. We wanted Scout to love the mountains as much as we do and want to return. So we traveled at her pace, which was surprisingly fast for her size, and enjoyed each moment...together. Each time we asked if she wanted to get in the pack she said "no, I can do it". And she did. We arrived at the hut 5 hours after we started and she received quit an ovation when all the travelers that saw her on the way up witnessed her walking in the door.


All adventures need a good snack break in the middle. Maybe next time we will spend the night here at Lakes if the Cloud Hut

The weather was foggy and the place was full of people. Then the fog started lifting. Shouts of "I can see the summit" echoed across the rooms. The place emptied fast as hikers all made a dash for the summit. We finished our snack and decided to finish our mission. This time Scout would ride strapped into the pack. Reports of hurricane force winds were predicted for the summit. 


This leg of the journey was like crossing a rubble pile.
 





We are almost there...we keep pushing on...everyone is determined to get those dogs to the flag.



We got to here...not sure if I could even find here exactly. But we were about 1/10th of a mile from the summit. We were into hurricane force winds. We held onto a rock, Stennis crouched low against it. It was not safe to go any further. We let those ashes fly right there! I am sure that wind carried them the rest of the way. We couldn't linger, the weather would only get worse.


Now we must get back. As we made our way back to the hut the rain began to fall. By the time we traveled the 1.3 miles back it was pouring. We were prepared. We went inside and changed into dry clothes and rain gear. Scout would have to ride down in the pack. The rain would make the trail treacherous and it was getting late.

There are no photos for this leg of the journey. We had only a few things on our minds, don't fall and get off the rocks before dark. The rain turned the rocky trail into a slippery river. We inched our way down with our precious cargo. Sometimes sliding on our bums because it was too dangerous to walk, but mostly working as a team to get down each rock one step at a time. 
Scout was amazing on the way down. She never complained, never asked for anything, she sang songs, took cat naps and mostly realized our situation and did her part. 

We talked about how much she was learning that day. On the way up the beauty of the mountain, the determination to finish something important, the pride in amazing accomplishment, the fun. On the way down she saw her parents working together to solve a problem, parents who worked as a team and never once got angry with the other, parents who were confident and so she was never scared, parents who found the fun in an otherwise miserable situation. It rained buckets all night. We made it off the rocks just before dark, after 3 hours of grueling climbing, carrying that precious cargo. Then there were still a few miles to go. It rained harder, it got dark, there was thunder and lightening (though thankfully just a little), we were exhausted, dehydrated, hungry and our muscles were ridiculously fatigued. 
We reflected at that point at how perfect this was. On the final hike with those two special search dogs we hiked through the wilderness and the rubble. We experienced hurricane, storm, flooding and a final sweep of the mountain. What better ending could there have been. And Murph and I, it had been a long time since we had a good disaster together! We pulled it off, perfectly. And Scout, just another day for her...do not travel where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. That is what we hoped for her when we chose the name Scout. We believe she is living up to it, and loving every minute of it.  

The story is not quite over yet.

We returned home the next day. Before long 2 perfect rainbows appeared over our home. 

Barkley and Lizzie smiling down on us! 
Life is Good!!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Today in the garden

This year I am off to a shot gun start in the garden. It is April and I am eating fresh from the garden and even supplying my first share this weekend! Over wintering food in the garden, starting early (risking that the mild weather would continue), having raised beds that don't really require much work to get them going in the spring have all contributed to great success already!

Take a look at the garden today



Chickadee has moved in!

 

Asparagus
 


Potatoes and raspberries

 


Spinach and swiss chard

 


Swiss chard, broccoli, garlic  and onions

 


strawberries

 

the orchard

 


Lettuce, kale  and peas

 
 celery