Wow! Wow! Wow! We have been busy this week! This last week we've enjoyed sharing our farm with two different groups of seniors. We're learning just how much fun we can have enjoying support from the community.
Let's see. Where to begin? Well, it was a cold and frigid morning. The nip of frost was in the air, the leaves wearing their vivid reds and orange...
Psst.
Excuse me?
You're writing about seniors visitng Birdhaven Ranch.
Yeah. Yes, I am.
I mean you need to be writing about seniors visiting Birdhave Ranch.
I am.
No, you're not. You're...
I'm setting the scene, okay? Geesh. Editors.
Anyway, where was I before I was so rudely interrupted? Ah yes... red and orange leaves. And...
Psst.
Okay fine.What a way to ruin a perfectly good story, I mutter. Anyway. So we'd finished breakfast on Tuesday morning, when the bus arrived from a local assisted living and retirement home. It was an intimate party: the driver, a nurse and three of our elderly neighbors.
They parked, and all disembarked without too much fuss, and now... ta-da! Let the show begin!
First up in our variety extravaganza were the goats. We walked (I was stage whispering--well okay, stage yelling--for the goats, but needn't have worried). There they were! Already for their performance, eating weeds from under a fence.
I pulled wisteria leaves down from a fence and handed them to one of the elderly gentlemen. He held them out for Blueberry, our buck. Well, Blueberry began eating the leaves and as I handed leaves to the other gentleman, Blueberry discovered it was easier eating these leaves than to find them himself under the fence. The woman who was providing support for the seniors took pictures and was very excited that Blueberry made it fun for the gentlemen.
Then a smaller one of our goats, Charlotte, a Nigerian Dwarf, came over and made friends with the senior lady of the group. She had a wheeled walker, and Charlotte put a foot on the side of the walker so that she could reach leaves we'd supplied to the lady. The lady soaked in the attention Charlotte was giving her, giving the nurse more opportunities to take more pictures. We were told we would become very popular when their other residents saw these pictures, and I agreed.
As we all got more comfortable about the goats, our audience wanted the show to go on! Off we went to find the next stage show, the other animals on the farm.
The horses were the next up, and man were they anxious. We put a halter on Bullet and brought him over to visit these people in the shade. We'd quartered some apples before our visitors had arrived, and these we now handed out. Bullet of course was delighted (and fortunate it was too, for his union contract clearly states apple quarters shall be given any time visitors arrive. During the dress rehearsal on Monday he'd balked at apple quarters, but fortunately this was now gone... not really, I'm kidding. Do you really think Bullet would ever baulk at apple quarters? Yeah, me neither!).
More pictures were taken. Suddenly, someone asked if we could put a saddle on Bullet, seeing as they'd never actually seen it done. They were very curious. I thought it would be neat for them to see, and Bullet really looks very handsome with a saddle on his back. I tacked him up. Of course the only way he'd stand for this impromptu showing was more apple slices. Which were happily supplied!
Our two elderly gentlemen posed next to Bullet like they were going to mount up. Man, if I'd had a cowboy hat, it would've been perfect! It didn't hinder us from taking more pictures though!
The saddle came off and Bullet scampered away (and yes horses can scamper, just ask 'em!). We stayed there, watching Bullet graze on the grass. They asked us some questions and expressed their pleasure about visiting us. We were going to get the bunnies out, but all the apples and wisteria leaves had made them hungry, an so they opted to find some human grade forage. We discussed ideas about picnic lunches and enjoyed it while watching the horses and goats. They agreed bring-your-own-hay... err I mean sandwich day was a great idea, but this was only making them more hungry. Well, the discussion ceased, our visitors re-embarked in their 'shuttle of fun' and screeched out. I think the driver was the hungriest of them all!
The very next day, Wednesday we had a visit from five residents from the memory care unit of the local veteran's home. Their bus parked on the grass by the driveway so that the wheelchair ramp unloaded onto a solid, flat surface. After the veterans disembarked from the bus they were wheeled into the shade.
As the day before, first we brought Leia and Charlotte out and found some weedy grass. Over the next half hour, the gentlemen fed the grass to Charlotte and Leia. There were chuckles of pleasure and smiles as these gentlemen found humor at the goats behavior. Then we put the goats back in their pen, their home.
We wheeled the gentlemen down to another patch of shade so that they would be in a more open area for meeting and feeding apples and carrots to Bullet. We got Bullet from the pasture and when he saw the gentlemen waiting to meet him, his head perked up, he had already realized that they would be giving him treats. When he got nearer, he was very happy to meet the gentlemen, and was not deterred in the least by their wheelchairs.
The gentlemen and the nurse assistants who accompanied them took turns feeding Bullet apples and carrots. Bullet, very gently, took apples and carrots out of hands and from between fingers. The pleasure was evident on the faces of these gentlemen. Bullet continued to behave perfectly for the group, regardless of other things beginning to happen around the farm.
Shortly before our first fund raiser event on the farm, we rented a porta potty. We will keep this on site all year, because it's handy when we have any type of visitor on the farm. Well, on this day, as Bullet was behaving and taking proffered treats from these veteran gentlemen, the people arrived to clear out the porta-pottie. Even though the noise was loud and different, Bullet nearly ignored the distraction, instead choosing to pay attention to the apples and carrots... err, I mean the veterans. I think he was showing exactly how patriotic he truly feels.
We put Bullet back in the pasture with Lady and prepared to get the bunnies out. We put a blanket into each veteran's lap so that he would be able to hold a bunny comfortably. Then we carefully placed a bunny onto each veteran's lap also. There were some of the usual jokes about bunny stew. One of the gentlemen shared that he had been a farmer, and that he felt at ease with the animals. We were well on our way to be very calm.
Suddenly, as we enjoyed the bunnies, I noticed the sound of a back-up beeper and looked around for the sound. There, I'd found it, as I observed that a large Davey Tree service truck was backing down the driveway at the farm. I knew what was happening. and immediately asked to put the bunnies back into their hutch. One bunny, Honey, stayed out of the hutch, huddled in my arms. We moved the veterans back, so that the truck could back up right in front of us. Well, it was about 8 feet away. Now, the veterans were very interested in this new event. It was sweet to watch the expressions on their faces, as the big truck put down its stabilization feet, and raised the bucket crane off of the cab. Their eyes got big with excitement and enthusiasm.
Then the bed of the truck began to tilt, and the large wood chips began to tumble out of the bed. One of the veterans looked like he wanted to stand up, so we maneuvered his chair a little closer so that he could have a better angle from which to watch. He smiled with appreciation as I explained to the group that this tree service, who cuts and trims trees all around the island for the electric company donates these wood chips to us for our pathway around the forest. I explained that eventually, the path will be satisfactorily safe for even wheel chairs to traverse. I further explained that the path is regularly used for "Nature walks with the goats" and that we will be looking to incorporate that into our farm visit tours in the future. The group looked appreciative of the idea, and I shared that it is a special thing to reach the bottom of the path, from where it is easy to observe the bay.
The Davey truck completed its job and left. We feel so grateful and appreciative of the donations we receive from our community. I told the Davey driver thank you and shared that the veterans had enjoyed watching this happen. The Davey driver chuckled as he completed making sure his truck was safe to return to the road, and then drove away. We talked to the nurses and realized that the veterans needed to go back to their homes. This had been a fun-filled yet tiring trip to the farm. The veterans were all ready to go home. We helped the nurses wheel the chairs up the driveway to their bus and watched as they used the wheel chair lift to safely load each veteran. As they finished securing the wheel chairs into the bus I peaked in and saw that some of the veterans were already dozing off.
We are so happy to have enjoyed providing these opportunities for these senior people. We did learn that we can do a better job filling divots and dips in the lawn to ensure walkers and non-mechanized wheel chairs have an easier time moving about. I identified areas where it will be a great idea to build shade awnings and equipment. I would like to find a better solution for the larger buses to easily turn around. They are heavy buses, so I must consider many things as I plan to ease these situations. We will continue to grow and build a better farm for our participants to enjoy.
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