Ann Goodman hasn’t been with us for very long, but she has a very natural way with the animals and we’re glad she’s chosen to join our little family of volunteers. Here is her blog entry.

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As a new volunteer at SASHA Farm, one thing I’ve noticed is that nothing ever stays the same. First the Hot Vegan Chicks became so big, they were moved out of their protected stall and into a real chicken coop where they enjoy scratching in the sunny yard. Then the cows, horses, burros, sheep and goats don’t need a hay breakfast because they can graze on the spring grass growing in the pastures. Luna, the beautiful Husky/Shepherd mix was adopted. And now Stephen Colbert, the tiny adorable brown pygmy goat, is old enough that he, along with his companion, Leo, can hang with the rest of the herd.

I watched Stephen and Leo as they came out of their enclosure, walked along the fence and entered the barn yard. Leo held back and let Stephen explore his environment. Being the youngster that he is, Stephen showed no fear as he trotted over to the nearest goat to introduce himself. Within minutes he jumped on the board that covers the water trough for a better view of his new surroundings. And the other goats, being the sweet, friendly creatures that they are, seemed happy to have Stephen and Leo as part of the crowd.

One question remains. Stephen has a habit of jumping on Leo’s back. Leo adjusts his stance to give Stephen a stable platform. Will Stephen jump on another goats back? How will a new goat respond? Only time will tell.

Hey, do you use iGive when doing your internet shopping? I was surprised to find that iGive partners with 691 stores to provide a percentage of each sale to SASHA Farm. And the stores are great — including some of my favs — Petco, iTunes, Kohl’s, Staples, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Macy’s and QVC. And for new iGive accounts, iGive kicks in an extra $5 for SASHA Farm. It’s win/win situation. If you want to use this easy way to help SASHA Farm, click on the “Donate Now” button on the SASHA Farm webpage. That will bring up a page containing the heading “Other Ways to Help”, under which iGive will be highlighted in the next sentence. Simply click on iGive and you’re on your way. Happy shopping.

The Hot Vegan Chicks posing for a portrait.

Gary Tofu enjoying his breakfast under the apple blossoms. Can you see the smile on his face?

Bella is smiling too.

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If you volunteer with us and would like to see your words and pictures here, send your entry to amanda at sasha farm dot org for consideration.

(Can you believe how big the chicks are getting?!)

Molly was a gentle soul, sweet and patient to a fault. Well, unless you were another horse trying to steal her food! She was sweet and gentle, but she was no shrinking violet. She kept the boy horses in line, kept order among the horses, and her presence in the herd is greatly missed by her human and equine friends alike.

When I think of Molly, I’ll remember her soulful eyes and the way she’d push her face into my chest when she wanted my undivided attention. I’ll remember how no matter how much time anyone took to bathe or brush her gorgeous white coat, she’d go right back out to the pasture and find a patch of dirt to roll in.

We are all very grateful that some of her favorite people were able to be with her at the time of her passing, including our wonderful farrier, Mike Cieslak, who rushed over as soon as Monte called him. Without his support and that of some of our wonderful volunteers, a tragic day would have been even more difficult. It’s been a hard winter here. We also lost Gulliver, another much beloved horse, and Edgar, the gentlest donkey, with a few days of each other in January. Let’s hope that Molly’s passing is the last our equine herd will have for many years.

Over the next few days, we’ll be moving the entire list over to another service provider. The next message from SASHA Farm that hits your inbox should be one informing you of the move.

Also, in the message I sent out, I included a link to the web page where you can sign up for the volunteer e-list.  That list will contain more frequent volunteer news and reminders of a local nature that our out-of-state supporters don’t necessarily want to receive. Unfortunately, that link was blocked by the mail server. If you’d like to join that list, you can do that here.

Again, we’re very sorry for the spam messages. The internet doesn’t always cooperate, but we’re trying hard to bring you only the messages you wish to receive.

So, is it just me, or do they look a little bigger?

If you’ve sponsored a chick, you’ll get a picture with your sponsorship package, and once we match up the names and faces, I’ll post them here, too.

We still have three chicks without sponsors, so if you were thinking about, this is probably your last chance! Of course, there are plenty of unsponsored older chickens, but how often do you get a chance to name a SASHA Farm chicken?!

Here’s a sampling of last week’s mugshots.

^ This is really is full of attitude! He has no tolerance for the paparazzi!

Yesterday afternoon, we received an early Valentine’s gift. Or rather, 16 baby chicks received the best gift of all– life here at SASHA Farm!

We received a call from the Michigan Humane Society on Tuesday, asking if we possibly had any room for 25 more chickens. After hearing their story, we couldn’t possibly say no. Someone ordered two dozen chicks to be delivered to someone else’s house as a prank! (They received 26. The hatcheries always send extra to make up for the ones that will die in transit.) The person receiving the chicks, of course, had no use for chickens, especially tiny baby chicks in the dead of winter. Fortunately, rather than simply disposing of them, they took them to the Michigan Humane Society who recognized that they needed to find a safe, permanent home for them quickly. They were here less than 24 hours later, but shipping and all the extra transit from place to place was too much for some. The whole misadventure turned tragic for ten of them. Without stable temperatures and constant monitoring for food and water intake, they died before they reached the safety of our incubator. Thankfully, the sixteen that arrived safely are energetic and thriving!

As always, new arrivals mean that we need to ask for help. Sixteen more mouths to feed. Sixteen more perching spots in the chicken coop. Round the clock supervision until they’re old enough to regulate their own body temperature. And, oh, if by some stroke of strange luck, most of them are roosters, we’ll need a new bachelor rooster area so the poor hens don’t get tired of too much male attention.

If the sight of these hot chicks isn’t enough to inspire you to buy them dinner, here’s extra incentive. The first sixteen chicken sponsorships we get, (or any we get in the next three weeks if we don’t get all sixteen), will get to name one of these cuties. You can visit to meet your chick, or I’ll take all the pictures you need for inspiration. Here’s a start:

^By the red light of the incubator, fifteen chicks pile out of their carrier. Several change their minds and jump right back in! I thought we’d gotten them all out, but a minute or so later, I found number sixteen sleeping under one of the towels. Silly bird. I’ll be watching her to see if she remains so laid back.

^This is a standard Mason jar that they’re drinking from.

^The smallest, and one of my early favorites.

My hand for size comparison only…but I think this one might have some pickpocket potential!

It’s not easy to get good pictures in the incubator, but they’re too fragile right now to risk taking them out just for a photo shoot. Watch the blog for updates as they grow, and think pink for us! We’d love it if most of these kids turned out to be social hens instead of territorial roosters!

Luna is a 7-8 year-old Husky/Shepherd mix who desperately needs a home after her caretaker had to be moved into an assisted living facility.

She’s a gorgeous dog, absolutely stunning, and loves people, but doesn’t  get along with other animals. As you can imagine, this makes life at an animal sanctuary quite difficult for her. She’s housebroken, has good home manners, and learns quickly what’s expected of her. She needs a fenced yard or a person committed to long leash walks as she suffers from selective hearing and can run like the wind. You can find her listed on Petfinder here.

Please help us get the word out by mentioning Luna to anyone you know who might be looking for a dog, and post her to any relevant Michigan e-lists. She really needs to get into a home of her own soon.

Piggy Sue arrived at the sanctuary on Sunday. (Please note that the red on her back and the floor is the warm glow of her heat lamp!) She’s a lovely ten-year-old potbelly who lost her lifelong pig companion recently. She was so distraught that her person thought it would be in her best interest to bring her here to live with other pigs. Piggy Sue isn’t used to the harsh weather we’re having, so she’s wintering over in the people barn, and we’ll introduce her to one of our other potbellies for companionship in just a few days. Come and visit Piggy Sue or maybe think about sponsoring her!

Last week’s brief thaw really made the SASHA Goose Gang pretty happy. Normally, the most water they get to swim in are the kiddie pools we dutifully fill for them several times a day in the summer, and a large trough in the winter. Last week, though, the entire yard flooded and the geese swam happily in Lake SASHA for two days. Watching them swim in the knee-deep water made trudging around in the mud totally worth it.

The Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine is asking the Medical College of Wisconsin to reconsider using pigs for a live animal lab on Monday, February 18th. If you’re in the Milwaukee area, your attendance at the protest would be greatly appreciated. If not, you can write a letter in support of these poor pigs.

From their site:

Despite determined efforts by PCRM members, concerned citizens, and a coalition of animal protection organizations led by the Wisconsin Humane Society, the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) is scheduled to hold another round of unnecessary animal labs in February 2008. For this year’s labs the school will use live pigs instead of dogs—despite past declarations by MCW representatives that pigs are poor subjects for this lab. This lateral move by MCW is a clear indication that the immense public pressure put on the school by thousands of individuals, PCRM, and the Wisconsin Humane Society can effect change. MCW has felt enormous pressure to change, and our efforts will continue.

Pigs are highly intelligent, social animals who have been shown to be more intelligent than dogs. Animal behavior experts agree, and scientific evidence suggests, that pigs are very smart, very sensitive animals.

Now it’s time to keep the pressure on MCW. Please let MCW know that using any animal in a live lab is cruel and unnecessary.

Call, e-mail, or write a letter to MCW president and CEO T. Michael Bolger, Department of Physiology chairman Allen Cowley Jr., Ph.D., and director of MCW’s pig lab Jean-Francois Liard, M.D., Ph.D., and politely ask them to end the school’s live animal lab program.

Contact information and even a form letter you can customize are included on PCRM’s site.

SASHA Farm has committed to give some of these pigs sanctuary here should the PCRM be successful in convincing the MCW to spare their lives. (Other sanctuaries have been asked as well, and all the pigs will have safe homes should MCW decide to do the right thing.) Please help us give them a chance at a long natural life!