watkins glen farm sanctuary

I often cry hysterically in the presence of animals. It happened when I got to hold a baby kangaroo, when I saw a penguin waddle toward me at the tv station I used to work at in Vancouver (unfortunately Sea World was on the breakfast show), and it usually happens if I’m petting a puppy. Well it happened at farm sanctuary when I was feeding the turkey clan some grass. They eat right out of your hand and have so much to say! I didn’t think it would be the turkey’s that would get me, but then again I’ve never interacted with a turkey before.

Thank you to farm sanctuary for their generosity and for these fantastic photos. Unfortunately, I made a huge rookie mistake – one that I’ve never made until now – and I reformatted our card before transferring and backing up all of our own photos and video footage. WHAT! I know, I’m an idiot. I’ve been raging for hours. But moving on…

Farm sanctuary is magical. These animals are living happily as they should on acres of green pasture and it’s incredible to see them all rehabilitated or in the process of healing from their previous life on factory farms. It’s a peaceful, serene setting that’s home to over 500 animals and each of them have a special story to tell about their journey to farm sanctuary. The staff at farm sanctuary are ready on a whim to rescue animals from dire situations and once in their care they do whatever it takes to makes these animals lives better. Samantha the sheep was so adorable and she actually has a prosthetic leg.

We loved them all, but I did have a crush on a goat named Racecar and a cow named Nik. John had a thing for Palmer, the chinese chicken or “the chicken with hammer pants” as he called him. And there are so many pigs! They all have such distinctive faces and personalities too. It was funny to see them nesting in hay and obviously I couldn’t resist napping with Truffles.

We were lucky to get an overnight booking at farm sanctuary’s cabins on the day before they closed for the winter season. There’s 3 private cabins at the farm and they serve a pretty exceptional vegan continental breakfast. Cherry danishes anyone?

We only stayed the one night, but the neighbouring town of Ithaca, NY is a vegan friendly college town. It’s where Cornell University is! You could sight see for a day or two if you wanted to stay longer and farm sanctuary has conveniently provided a list of all the vegan-friendly restaurants in Watkins Glen and Ithaca. We wished we stayed to do a proper food tour, but we packed in as much as we could.

We’re definitely going to make the trip again, but next time probably for the celebration of turkeys (our new fave) around american thanksgiving. Farm sanctuary has a great adopt a turkey program right now too! When they’re open for the season you can go for a tour on select days, but the whole bed & breakfast experience is the way to go. You can spend as much time as you want with all of the animals. But spending even a moment with a goat, cow, chicken, pig, sheep or any farm animal will show you that they have personalities, feelings, emotions, and the same needs and wants that we do. It’s undeniable that we are equals. All of the animals are smiling at farm sanctuary and we’ll never forget those happy faces.