Lopin’ Along at The Farm Micro Sanctuary

10/28/2026

The last couple of weeks saw some changes to Susie’s body condition. She’s lost some muscle across her spine and down into her hip. It’s clear she’s lost a little weight. We’re balancing trying to get Mo to lose weight with trying to keep/add a little to Susie. I’ve gone and bought expensive bagged orchard grass hay for her because it’s easier for her to eat and I’m sneaking her some handfuls of grain when Mo isn’t in the room. She’s had a course of antibiotics to make sure she’s not fighting any infections, but the masses in her neck are still present and unchanged by that. Without aspirating or doing a scan, we don’t know for sure what they are. The three differential diagnoses are thymoma (a thymus gland tumor), enlarged thyroid, or lymphoma. Other than making sure she’s not getting too much or too little iodine, there isn’t anything else we could do at this point. So it’s a wait-and-see situation right now, of course that makes me anxious. Susie is happy, eating well, and loving her life. I am doing everything I can to keep her that way without putting her through a lot of stress of travel, hospitals, and procedures. A diagnosis might help my brain wrap around things, but since none of these are treatable when she is so advanced in age, we don’t feel it is fair to put her through all of that. I’m going to keep giving her the best old lady life possible and telling her how much I love her. How much everyone loves her. We might still have a long time before anything changes, I hope so. But I didn’t want it to be a heartbreaking shock to all of you so I wanted to talk about it now. So send Susie all your love and good energy that she can stay and enjoy life longer here. ♥️

10/27/2026

November 1st marks Dia de Los Mu***os but today, October 27th, our animal friends arrive ahead of them and visit us from across the rainbow bridge. It has always been an honor to know and love every animal who has been here, no matter how short their time was with us. I always try to be grateful I got to love them and give them the best possible life and not drown in the grief of so many gone. We are facing more losses in the coming months as so many of our residents are elderly but again, giving them better before they leave means everything to me. This obviously isn’t everyone we’ve said goodbye to but anyone not pictured is also held in my heart forever. ♥️
💀

10/27/2026

And we’re off! Had a meeting with the builder today to walk off the barn site and discuss all the details I want. I started filling out the application for our building permit from the county and then… It’s just waiting for the builder to get us in his schedule 😏 this time of year is very busy for construction as everyone is trying to get things in the ground before winter. I’m so excited we are finally able to get moving on this life-changing project! Seeing the goats get their own big new space is so exciting 🥰 We could still use a little help with everything inside the barn for the goats. If you would like to help us, please go to our website www.thefarmmicrosanctuary.org for more info and the link to donate. Thank you for helping us improve their environment and give them the best ♥️

10/25/2026

Yesterday was a great day to work outside! And as always, there were goats involved 😉
Arlo did his part in leaf cleanup 😋
Abigail helped clean out the raised garden beds 😂
And Susie helped herself to the last bucket of tomatoes I thought I had picked for myself. She wasn’t sorry 😋
I got the fence tore out around the garden and hauled all the tomato plants off to the compost pile. And then all the extra dirt in the boxes got hauled into the aviaries to finish up that project. Today is cleaning day for the inside chicken spaces, goat pens, and horse barn. I have one week until the time change takes away some of my daylight so I’m working hard all week to get a lot of winter prep finished. Our weather has been very mild but you never know when that could change so I need to be prepared ☺️

10/23/2026

I left the old garden space to grow wild this summer and it grew a few weeds and one insane tomato volunteer that took over the entire space 😳 I swear the goats must know when things are ready to be eaten because they never touched it all summer until last week when suddenly they all went in and started snacking. Honestly they were a huge help as I am planning to tear it all out this weekend in prep for winter. Maybe they will help with the present garden too! 😋

10/22/2026

You did it!! 🥳 Yesterday I asked for your help to cover two upcoming expenses and as of this morning, we’ve hit our goal! Thank you so much to those who donated, we will have a pallet of bedding delivered Monday and our new farrier comes next Wednesday to meet the horses and Susie. I’m so relieved to know these are covered.
Now, enjoy silly Gary loving his pumpkin skins. 😉
Shout out to his sponsor mom, ~T~ 💗

10/21/2026

I had some serious thoughts the last few days as I watched the fall sunsets and brilliant early morning stars while feeding and caring for the animals.
Most of us will live and die without being noticed by history. Remembered for a while by those that loved us and then maybe a record of a name somewhere. We won’t be remembered for how nice our clothes or furniture were, or likely not even for our jobs or how much or little money we made. Centuries of people before us have gone without much notice. Unknown or forgotten.
What must matter most then is the difference we make while we are here. The help we give, the good we do, the lives we touch. I am not wealthy, I do not own a fancy home, and I won’t ever be famous. The work I do here is small in scale, not an influencer, not well known by many but rather a few. That can feel unsuccessful if you let it, but instead I focus on the work I can do. There are 44 lives here that wouldn’t otherwise have thrived. There are more who lived the fullest life here before they left us. There are hearts that have changed, minds that have been opened. Support and care I have given. I think in the grand scale of the universe, that matters. And the support of those who love our animals and our tiny little sanctuary matters, for it makes it possible to keep doing what I can to make a difference.
I’ve been lousy this month asking for donations after asking for so much for the barn. We need your help. I need to place an order for a pallet of bedding for the cooler temps of fall heading our way and the new farrier comes next week. Can you help us raise the $500 it will take to cover those expenses? I would be so grateful ♥️

10/20/2026

Giving the best last years to our elderly animals is something I take very seriously. It isn’t a contest to see who can live the longest, but rather how much they can enjoy each day they have left, on their terms.
When Susie arrived almost three years ago, we didn’t know how long we would have with her. She’d lost many teeth, had been malnourished, and her bloodwork was not stellar. Still, at her age and with what she’d survived, we didn’t want to put her through a bunch of diagnostics and the scary stress of a trip to Purdue. We’ve managed her arthritis and she’s been so happy to live inside with yard time when the weather suits her. The last couple of weeks I’ve noticed a significant lump (plus a smaller one next to it) at her throat. It’s too low to be a lymph node, but goats can get lumps here from thyroid and thymus glands. I don’t know that Susie’s arthritis will handle the two hours to Purdue to try to get ultrasound or CT scans. Dr C advises monitoring for now, so that’s what we’re doing. She’s still happy to snack on leaves and rest on her big bed so I’m just watching her carefully for any indication that she is not feeling well. Susie could be anywhere between 16-18 years old so we just want her to enjoy every moment and not traumatize her with a lot of stress.
Stahley had his visit to his doctor yesterday. The good news is he’s lost 8 pounds which is helpful for his joints, and his heart sounds strong and healthy. He’s getting progressively weaker in his hind end and losing muscle. Stahley turns 16 in a month (Nov 22nd) so again, there’s no reason to put him through pokes and prods for an age-related problem. We’ve tweaked his meds to help keep him more comfortable and he would like you to know he chased a neighbor’s cat across the yard this morning and was quite pleased with himself 😉 I will just keep altering my routine for both of them, as well as our other seniors like Duke (almost 19!), Tuff (almost 26), and Sonny (almost 11!). Sometimes the anticipatory grief feels overwhelming but knowing they are living a life so few get to experience makes it worth any tears. ♥️

10/19/2026

I love our little ground squirrels who live here, but they had started adding tunnels into the aviaries. This could allow small predators like weasels so we needed to do something to protect the chickens. So I dug and moved dirt from one side of each aviary to the other, laid down hardware cloth with tiny holes to keep out critters, and buried it back under the dirt. While I was at it, I checked all the wire, their netting overhead, and scrubbed all their bowls. One more project checked off before winter! 😉

10/18/2026