Day Two.
I’m never offering any one my hormone, antibiotic free organic milk ever again, because no one appreciates it and wants to drink hormone milk. FINE. I’m NOT sorry we had to stop by Whole Foods after Amy’s Ice Cream to get it. Speaking of Amy’s, I was able to eat “cop-stop time,” which is coffee ice cream enriched with doughnuts. GET IT? Katie, Jake, Phillip, Jana and I were all able to get Amy’s after Katie made us a delicious spaghetti dinner. I cooked the vegetables, which is obviously the most challenging part if you had seen our microwave. Phillip and I washed dishes, and Jake was the designated dish drying elf. He really is a great drying elf.
Today our job was to clear an acre of brush. Which doesn’t sound too terrible when you just hear about it. But it actually wasn’t just “brush,” it was pretty much an acre of really large trees that were cut down. We had to drag the trees about 100 feet to the wood chipper, where the trees were turned into mulch. The Zoo is going to use the mulch in the gardens and around a lot of the already standing trees. Erica and I discovered our inner strength when we drug about a 35 foot tall tree out of the entanglement by our selves! We are super women, if you will.
When we first arrived at the area we were clearing, I expected it to be a two day task. We were literally surrounded by brush and cut down trees all around us. By noon, between six of us, a board member and another maintenance fix it all man at the zoo, we were 95% finished by noon. I was really impressed with all of the hard work everyone put in. Even the President of the Executive board of the Zoo, Patti. Patti not only bribed us with doughnuts and kolachis when we first arrived, but she also was out in the field with us, working extremely hard. Now that the area is cleared, the Zoo was able to save money by not needing to hire an outside company. The money saved can now be used to buy fencing to enclose the space, which allows the Zoo to take in more animals.
The Zoo turns down 50-60 animals a month, including exotic animals. By clearing this space, we as volunteers, are really making an actual difference in the lives of the animals who don’t have a space yet. Because the Zoo takes only rescued or surrendered animals, it is a one of a kind place where these animals can live out their life in peace. I don’t know a lot about tigers and weight, but the ponies there aren’t missing any meals. Every animal is treated with such gratitude and respect, and I could only wish that people could treat each other the same way. We are really having a great time growing closer as a group and learning the silly things about each other, but also sharing our love, compassion and respect for animals together.
At the end of the day, Jana and I were able to walk a few equine pals. I walked a Shetland pony named Toucan, who is my new best friend. I feel like I’m back in the homeland with my own ponies. It was very relaxing, and pretty great to bond with a new critter.
Tom Update: Tom the Turkey was standing up on his own today and doing very well. Very exciting.
Cheers.
Kait Perry
Post Script: Before and After Pictures of the Acre.
BEFORE
AFTER
ground? roads?
WOW
kittie stites admiring our work. 
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