June/July
2004
Golden Apples:
Free for the Picking
By Gretchen Primack
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Compost, fertilizer, black gold: Whatever you
call it, it’s the foundation, literally, of a healthy garden. For some,
it’s a heat-sealed bag from the local gardening shop, but at Catskill
Animal Sanctuary, it’s simply a byproduct of daily life. This
summer, CAS is making its cow manure free to anyone armed with a bag
and shovel.
Catskill Animal Sanctuary is a 75-acre refuge for abused or abandoned
farm animals and horses, nestled in the Hudson Valley township of Saugerties.
With about 100 animals in its census, the Sanctuary certainly has enough
golden apples to share. In fact, the animals—horses, cows, goats,
sheep, pigs, and more—produce them at a rate of three pickup-truck
loads per day.
Now that CAS has had three years of successful nurturance, along with
a raft of volunteers (New York City residents, some of whom weekend
in the Hudson Valley, make up a sizeable component of these), director
Kathy Stevens is turning her eye toward the educational component of
this vibrant nonprofit.
“Catskill Animal Sanctuary is more than an animal rescue organization—our
work is ultimately about the link between animal, human, and environmental
health,” she explains. “If we’re asking people to
consider leaving animals off their plate, that means providing delicious
and nutritious alternatives.” To that end, CAS is offering gardeners
unlimited compost on the last Saturday of every month through October.
In addition, future plans include vegetarian cooking classes at CAS,
using ingredients provided by an organic demonstration garden that
is
currently in the planning phase. Thirty acres of land bordering the
Sanctuary are currently for sale, Stevens says, so “if we can
secure funding to buy that acreage, a portion of it will make an ideal
garden. Many of our volunteers are passionate gardeners and are eager
to start digging.”
By the end of next year, CAS will also house exhibits and materials
on organic gardening in its Visitors’ Center (or “People
Barn”), currently under construction.
The People Barn and garden will also be instrumental in CAS’s
education modules. Kindergarteners on up to high school seniors now
come to the farm for hands-on animal and environmental education. Once
the garden is in place, students will be able to get their hands dirty
learning about plant growth, organic vs. conventional agriculture,
and
the relationship between plant, animal, and human health.
In the meantime, there seems to be no end of compost manufacturing
in sight, as CAS continues to take in animals, from donkeys to turkeys.
How do the numbers stay under control? CAS’s comprehensive adoption
program places animals—once they have recuperated in mind, body,
and spirit—in caring homes. Stevens was especially struck by the
adoption story of an old horse named Chance, who arrived at the sanctuary
severely psychologically damaged. Chance had been kept in a stall for
nine years without once being let out. Her manure was packed six feet
high. “Chance was so terrified it took us three days to get her
out: two to coax her from the stall, another to encourage her from the
barn and onto the trailer,” Stevens remembers.
Chance was one of CAS’s greatest challenges. “Initially
extremely untrusting, she would charge at us, ears flattened against
her neck.” But with time, patience, and the help of some horse-savvy
volunteers, Chance began to drop her defenses. Still, Stevens “assumed
she’d be among our ‘lifers’—our population of
older special-needs animals who live out their days here.” But
an especially skilled and compassionate volunteer fell in love with
her—and took her home. “There were lots of damp eyes that
day,” Stevens recalls.
Indeed, the lives of sanctuary charges now resemble a children’s
bedtime story, wherein Rambo the ram nuzzles Mr. Peepers the duck, and
a couple of potbellied pigs snuffle by in search of a sunny haystack.
But these creatures’ histories are often harrowing. Rambo, a majestic
Jacob sheep, was one of 17 large animals packed into a single stall,
fed with occasional moldy bagels, carcasses decomposing underfoot. Rambo
arrived at the sanctuary angry and frightened enough to throw a human
across the barn. But it’s a year later now, and Rambo’s
most assertive gesture is his lean: he demands a head scratch from
all
visitors by leaning against their legs.
The sanctuary’s first resident, a miniature horse named Dino,
was originally a Brooklynite. He is the sole survivor of the 2000 Bergen
Beach Stable fire, in which a local teen was charged with arson, resulting
in the deaths of 24 horses. Tiny Dino, currently 130 in human years,
managed to kick out his stall door; he suffered permanent lung and
eye
damage, but shows no sign of slowing down.
Until the Visitors’ Center and garden become a reality, a full
summer schedule of events is held outdoors. Some of the country’s
top speakers on animals rights, factory farming, vegetarian cooking,
and nutrition are featured, along with films, tours, and “plenty
of animals to kiss.”
Contact Catskill Animal Sanctuary for more information on its composting
and other programs, future garden plans, events, membership, and volunteer
opportunities: www.casanctuary.org;
(845) 336-8447; casanctuary@yahoo.com. CAS is located at 316 Old Stage
Road, Saugerties, NY 12477, and is open to visitors Saturdays and Sundays
from 11-4.
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