A Garden Rose

And where else would one find such a beautiful Rose? The last picture is a little movie if you click onto it. ;o)

The Challange when Rescuing Pigs

This past week has been nothing but advertising , net working, table at the SPCA event and even a spot on the News. I am sure the amount of time we are seen in the news most will think wow she must be doing okay , she is always in the paper.

The facts are that a little networking got us 225.00 , the ad in the paper another couple of hundred and the TV spot 50.00.
We were however contacted by a gal who offered to put a fundraiser on for us at the Legion in Abbotford, a few emails asking about volunteering and a couple of calls asking about pigs for adoption.
That is good and is is how we have got to where we are today yet why we cannot do more then we are doing.

When i moved here in 1993 i was renting, and this is where i found my little Willy who taught me about loving pigs. When my landlord was going to sell it, I asked him if he would be willing to go into a partnership. This is how i bought this place and over the years i kept giving him more money and here i am today having the land and title, but him still owning 17% .

As most of you know the acreage is for sale , I can't afford to double my mortgage payment in order to buy my partner out. He wants the return now on his investment , its been 16 years. We have two acres and 41 grazing animals here and it is not enough room. I love everyone who lives here and my drive to do more for them is what keeps me moving forward. That one needs a bigger space , so do they and if i expand the piggy paddock's I cut into the horses pasture and everyone area to run free is effected. The open pasture becomes smaller and smaller every time i put up a pen.

Summer is easy but the winters are brutal. And for a species who needs the same temperatures as we do to survive with short legs in snow that must be shoveled before i can even feed at night well something has got to give. Before it is me, i need a better way to work this sanctuary so it can be maintained more efficiently. I am 52 year old and i am not sure how long i can keep up with this work so if i can't find pig help then i must bring in enough money to pay for it and that's not happening either.

I had two offers on the table yesterday and here we go . Now that i face the impending move i am scared and doubt everything i am doing. I am like the pigs , i am stubborn. It is what has kept me moving forward in everything i do. And I have faith and hope that if i re build , more help will come because i am doing Gods work and he has kept us safe. We never have to much but we always have what we need.

Last Wednesday Dayna arrived here who found out about us on the Internet and drove here from Edmonton to help me for ten days. I am desperate for help here so having someone move in with me for ten days is a blessing! She is vegan , has brought me cook books , bought everything and every day here i am eating nothing that suffered because of me. I have noticed i am not so tired at the end of the day , i don't wake up during the night thirsty and although some of it will acquire me having to get used to, if that is what i have to eat verses the flesh or end result of suffering that is what i will eat. Although i have not eaten meat for 16 years i cannot get what i need in peanut butter sandwiches from the lack of education on how to eat. And i will have to live 100 years or more as i have to be here to take care of pigs.

I had free range eggs in my fridge. What you don't want to know is that hens are the only thing that can lays eggs of course and while millions of little tiny yellow chicks move down the conveyor belts peeping , the boys are picked and chucked into a grinder. By eating eggs I am perpetuating standard practice in the poultry industry ..it goes on and on. My no egg tofu sandwich was just as good and no one was ground while alive for me.


I have a guy here doing community hours so i better get out there and follow behind what he is doing out there.

Our grant was denied as i bet most animals welfare groups are reading in emails in B.C. today so that insurance for the year has been removed. But they are not rescuing pigs and TV spots and advertising brings them in thousands of dollars so although they might be reeling, they will be okay because the public cares about cats and dogs just not pigs.

More to say but go to go for now , have a great day!

Young Readers Pages by Craig Spence

Rosie & Roscoe
Run Away
This is a You-tell-it story. I'll write a bit, then turn it over for you for some ideas about what happens next...
Online book project draws on children's ideas
Maple Ridge pig sanctuary Hearts on Noses has inspired collaborative creative process.
The Times
Published: Tuesday, August 18, 2009
In between scribbling the final manuscript of his next novel, children's author Craig Spence has created a book online - with a little help from his followers.

Taking a bold leap to entice and involve young readers and writers, Spence has created an online story. Rosie and Roscoe Run Away is what he dubs a you-tell-it-story, where he invites readers of all ages - but especially children - to add their thoughts and ideas [www.craigspence.ca/kids.html].

"I'll write a bit, then turn it over for you for some ideas about what happens next," said Spence, an author, as well as communications manager for the local school district.


While he's never seen such a collaborative writing endeavour on the web before, Spence said he wouldn't be surprised to learn similar ideas already existing.

"I want to open up the window for people, encouraging them to open up and participate," Spence told the Langley Advance.

He's launched the new project earlier this week, and is expecting to keyboard a new episode weekly.

"I expect it will take time to get people interested," he said, but remains optimistic it will take off.

So far, the story is unfolding with the introduction of Rosie and Roscoe, two pretty lucky piglets who don't know how good their life is.

They were born in a place called the Hearts on Noses Mini Pig Sanctuary [www. heartsonnoses.com], not far from downtown Maple Ridge.

"Pigs at Hearts on Noses are treated really well. That's because Janice Gillett, who runs the sanctuary, loves pigs," Spence wrote.

"But no matter how lucky we are, the grass always looks a little bit greener on the other side," he added.

"So Rosie and Roscoe would often sit with their noses pressed up to the sanctuary fence wondering, 'What's it like out there?' and thinking 'It must be more interesting than it is in here.'

"Their mom, who knew a thing or two about life on the outside, told her piglets never, ever to set hoof outside the sanctuary. But you know what piglets think when they're told not to do something..."

What will they discover? What kinds of adventures and dangers await?

Visitors to Spence's website can preview the Rosie and Roscoe Run Away album, which contains photographs and YouTube clips of things the piglets experienced during their adventure.

Although the web-based story is brand new, Craig is already impressed with the reaction.

June Tucanu, for instance, wrote in with a suggestion for the storyline:

"How about having the two kids sneak away at night, and overhear a conversation between three persons near the sanctuary fence discussing a barbecue to be held the next evening, and how easy it would be to get over the fence, to bring back a special 'guest' for the party?"

Spence responded: "I like your idea! I think I'll have them overhear this conversation on their way back to the sanctuary, after they have discovered how confusing and downright mean the world can be to pigs. Their goal then becomes to warn Janice and the others about the pending raid. What do you think?"

He's not sure where the story is going to go, and admitted Tucanu's suggestion has already changed the direction of the story.

"I want to play with it and have some fun with it," Spence said. "I really like the notion of a collaborative work" and encourages people to participate in the imaginative process.

"For children who want to see how a story develops, or anyone who wants to join in, the You-Write-It format offers a fun, educational experience," he said.

To help stimulate those creative juices, he's augmented the storyline with YouTube footage from the pig sanctuary on the north side of the Fraser River.



Hearts on Noses is a registered non-profit society in Maple Ridge, that rescues, rehabilitates and cares for unwanted, injured, orphaned, abused, neglected and abandoned mini-pigs.

As well, Spence has incorporated a series of paintings by his artist wife Diana Durrand, from her recent exhibit Where are the pigs? Where are they?

And, of course, Spence is no stranger to the local literary world.

Three years ago, he published his first children's novel, Josh and the Magic Vial, which was shortlisted for the BC Book Prize in children's literature.

His next book, Einstein Dog, also a juvenile fiction piece, will be released this fall.

In fact, Spence will be reading excerpts from Einstein Dog in the children's tent during The Word on the Street 15th literary event in Vancouver Sept. 27 at Library Square in downtown Vancouver.

rhooper@langleyadvance.com


See how the story unfolds at http://www.craigspence.ca/

Pig Swim Team

Keep Pork off your fork!

Catskill Animal Sanctuary is a 501(c) non-profit located in Saugerties, NY. Our 75 acre farm is home to horses and farm animals rescued from abuse and neglect. We have educational programs to raise awareness of animal abuse and the institutionalized cruelty of factory farming