As I write this, I’m eating a huge slice of Vegan Treats death by chocolate cake from yesterday’s work party & potluck at for the Animals Sanctuary in Blairstown, NJ. The top of the cake box simply said DEATH. How ironic.
I’ve been hearing about this farm animal sanctuary from my internet friends for about a year now. I met the founder, Debbie Kowalski, when I was at TAFA with Farm Sanctuary this past July. However, even though I’ve been home since August, I haven’t had the chance to actually get out to the sanctuary until yesterday.
Yesterday the lovely Letecia and I went to ftA for a work party followed by a potluck (all vegan, of course). We met their 30-some beautiful animals and then got quickly to work. One group cleaned out the barn, while the rest of us went down to load the old piles of compost into the spreader. With all of us pitching in (oh boy, the puns were endless but I’ll refrain from posting any others in order to keep this post family friendly), the work got done in no time (especially the A-team s*** shovelers, we BEASTED that compost pile)!
Of course we had worked ourselves up an appetite, so we all went inside to indulge in the food that everyone brought. There was SO MUCH food everywhere! I tried to get a little bit of everything, but everytime I turned around I was finding something new and I could only handle so much. There was pot pie, BBQ “meatballs,” millet, cauliflower, some sort of orzo salad, potato salad, Italian & “turkey” subs, cookies, muffins, cake, and so much more! Every single thing I had was amazing, even if I had no idea what it was.
After everyone was stuffed to the brim, Deb brought out the Death by Chocolate cake (AKA heaven). She looked like she wanted to eat the whole thing, but was kind enough to share.
For the Animals Sanctuary had a completely different feel from Farm Sanctuary, because it’s a much smaller organization. The people and animals are much more personable, the work much more manageable (their spreader looked like a toy compared to what they have at FS), and of course their budget much smaller. Which is where I call on you to help them out!
Right now, ftA is having an online auction to name the aforementioned piglets (link). The auction goes through Saturday. Basically, there is a separate bid for each pig and the winner gets to name that pig! As I write this, the bids are at $150 for the pink piglet and $225 for the pink and red piglet. Please consider bidding if you can! If you don’t have that much money to spend, definitely check out Debbie’s Etsy shop. She makes lots of beautiful vegan jewelry, and all the money she makes goes directly to the animals.
Overall we had a wonderful day, and I’m so happy we went! We met so many awesome people, and Deb & Steve (and the animals!) were super appreciative of all our hard work. There was so much vegan camaraderie and delicious food that I even started tearing up at one point. There’s absolutely nothing bad I could say about it, even if I tried.
