Last Saturday I woke up to the sun shining. Today’s going to be a nice day I thought. However, as I checked the weather I discovered it actually ‘felt like’ -19 degrees (hello Canadian spring weather). I bundled up anyways as I was going to visit Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary despite the cold!
I found out about this trip through Heather Kollmann, whom I interviewed as a campus celebrity back in February. This was Heather’s second visit to Cedar Row, her first one being last term when she went with Vegeration. “The amount of care Siobhan and her family have at the farm is impeccable. It is so nice to take a few hours to give back to the community and working up-close with the animals at Cedar Row is such a rare opportunity. We will definitely be making these field trips each term after so much success with our most recent visit,” said Heather during her past interview.
Early in the morning, I met up with the UW Animal Rights Society on campus. From there we car-pooled up to Cedar Row which is located just 20 minutes outside of Stratford. The sanctuary opened back in 1999 and was founded by the Poole Family, who still run it today.
What makes Cedar Row different from a regular farm is that the animals that live there were rescued from abuse and neglect; some were abandoned and some were even found on the side of the road. Currently at the farm you can find; donkeys, goats, lambs, pigs, cows, turkeys and chickens. Let us not forget Gabe, the gander (a male goose) and the farm’s personal alarm system.
Since the sanctuary has no paid staff, they do not have public visits just to look at the animals. Instead they have monthly work visits where people can help out with the farm work and see the animals at the same time! While we were at Cedar Row, we helped with cleaning out the barns, cleaning the feeding bowls of the animals and tidying up around the farm. There were also other volunteers who came to lend a hand. Although it was cold that day and most of our time was spent outside, seeing the animals warmed our hearts.
For a lot of us, it was our first time visiting a sanctuary farm. While working at Cedar Row, we could all see the complex emotions each animal had. “My favourite part of the trip was being able to spend time with the animals after a long day of hard work! Each of the animals have their own personality and if I ever get a chance to visit Cedar Row again, I would love to get to know them some more” says Sonia Dharni, a member of UW Animal Rights Society.
After we were done helping out around the farm there was a vegan potluck. Everyone brought in delicious vegan food, snacks and desserts. Some of the dishes included shepherd’s pie, chili, sushi, fried rice, quinoa salad, mac n’ cheese, hand pot pies, fajitas, chocolate cake pops, peanut butter fudge…this could go on forever but you get the picture. To anyone who thinks vegans just eat kale, tofu and veggie burgers, go to a vegan potluck and your whole world will change.
I asked ChiChiu Lam, another member of the club about his experience at Cedar Row: “The best part of the visit was that I could really feel animals by hugging them and taking selfies with them! It is very meaningful because it allowed me to feel how energetic and friendly those animals are and it gave me a life lesson to be merciful to them because “they are friends, not food” (this is a quote from the farm I saw two years ago). And most importantly people brought lots of awesomely delicious vegan food after our work.”
As the day came to an end, our hearts were filled with compassion for the animals and our stomachs were satisfied from the tasty vegan food. Everyone was reluctant to leave and wanted to go back for another visit. Lila Yaacoub, another member of UW Animal Rights Society, summed up our visit to Cedar Row perfectly.
“My experience visiting Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary instilled in me an even deeper passion for animals. I can now say from personal experience, when given a forever home these ‘farm animals’ behave a lot like your childhood pet. At Cedar Row, the animals are free to roam. They will beg for your attention, lie in the sun, and eat all the fruits and vegetables they can find. If more people got to see these animals in this unique setting, I know it would inspire them to make changes in their lives for the well being of these amazing animals. Places like Cedar Row save the lives of animals, and in the process they forever change the lives of humans.”
To find out more about Cedar Row, check out their website http://cedarrow.org/
Also, if you are interested in learning more about the UW Animal Rights Society check out their Facebook page here!