Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday. I don't normally like to make a huge deal of it, but for some reason this year a lot of little celebrations are happening. I guess that is the result of my widening social circle :)

On Sunday I invited my family and some close friends to spend the day with me at The Gentle Barn, an amazing farm animal sanctuary in Santa Clarita, CA. We spent a couple hours hanging out with cows, horses, chickens, turkeys, goats, sheep, pigs, llamas, etc. And finished the afternoon with some delicious vegan cupcakes that my cousin Jana made, check out her awesome cakes at Jana's Fun Cakes!

My cousin & I with Buttercup, the sweetest cow ever!

 

Me and the llama...he's got his eye on me!

 

This is Portia, she was genetically engineering to be a fat Thanksgiving turkey,
and now she can't even hold her own weight :(
 

 

This poor pot belly is blind because his previous owner did not know how to properly
feed him, he had zero protein in his diet.

Husband, cousins, friends and me!

AWESOME vegan cupcakes, I think the best vegan frosting I have ever had!

It was so much fun spending time with my family, friends and all the animals! I couldn't ask for a better way to spend the day!

On Monday the husband and I drove out to Temecula where my mom and dad live and had an awesome Mexican fiesta with family complete with vegan tacos, homemade Mexican brown rice and margaritas! It was nice to have the immediate family all together, doesn't happen often.

I could eat Mexican food everyday.

 

Vegan chocolate cake with spider & pumpkin sprinkles!

SO good.

Mom, dad and brothers.

Husband and brothers

 

Tonight I think the husband and I are going out for a nice vegan meal (post on that later in the week) and then Friday will be another dinner with friends and karaoke! Super busy week, but it's worth it!

The Gentle Barn

I heard about The Gentle Barn a few months ago when I was trying to track down a vegan hot dog vendor Frankenstand. I instantly wanted to go visit and finally got the chance to today.

The Gentle Barn is an amazing rescue and rehabilitation facility for farm animals who have been saved from all manners of abuse. Even though these animals have been treated horribly by humans and gone through unspeakable torture in some cases, they are all so loving and trusting. It's an amazing experience to look into the eyes of a cow or goat and see their sweet loving soul. Each animal at the barn has a unique story and the volunteers do an amazing job informing the visitors of how the animal was rescued and the progress they have made. Every one should visit this place, it's a truly transformative experience.

This was my first time getting close to a cow and I was a little shy at first but Buttercup was so very sweet she eased my worries. She even nuzzled me with her nose like my dogs do.



This is Buddha, another super sweet girl.


Next we moved on to the upper barn where llamas, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, turkeys and even emus live in harmony together. King the llama was found wandering the desert, thirsty and starving. He was a bit shy but I tried to make friends.





My favorite guy had to be Yoda, the emu. He was so cool and calm and kept falling asleep as we were petting him.



The husband fell in love with Sophie, a goat who was rescued from an abusive petting zoo. Another mellow girl who loves a good neck scratch.


We ended our visit with an awesome vegan hot dog from Frankenstand (which I have been wanting to try for the past 8 months!) and it was delish!



I took so many more pictures, too many to post here, but these captured our experience here today perfectly. If you can't visit The Gentle Barn in person, check out their website where you can read each animal's story, donate and even sponsor a specific animal. It's an amazing organization and every little bit helps!