The mission statement of Sadie Grove Nurture Farm is: To provide a sanctuary home where animals can be nurtured and rehabilitated, while simultaneously providing opportunities for children to roam, explore, learn, connect, bond, be witnessed, nurture, and be nurtured.
We work to provide the best care for all of the animals on our farm, 85% of whom have been rescued or rehomed here. All of our animals have a permanent home with us and many are elderly or could not be homed elsewhere due to behavioral issues or ongoing veterinary needs. We have 10 dogs, 9 cats, 7 chickens, 7 horses, 2 mini horses, 10 goats, 4 sheep, 3 pigs, and 1 giant bunny.
The Care of Our Animals: These animals receive the daily and ongoing care, as well as the veterinary care, that they require. Our dogs and cats eat Science Diet geared toward their specific needs per veterinary recommendation. The dogs get their teeth brushed, and those who require it are groomed, regularly. Almost all of our cats are barn cats and have endless nooks and crannies and rafters to climb and hide. Our chickens are fed a hand mixed variety of organic feeds and supplements to meet their dietary needs. They are also allowed to free range the farm. Our goats and sheep are given grass hay and graze on pasture, and lambs are supplemented with lamb starter. Our horses are fed a base of orchard grass hay and those who require more protein or ulcer protection are given alfalfa in addition. The horses are then given a complex combination of pelleted feed, supplements, salt, or additional feeds depending on each one’s metabolic and veterinary needs and based on scientific research (each horse’s feeding regimen is input into FeedXL computer program) and their activity level. Where possible, our horses are kept barefoot and in pasture in smaller groups and fed hay in slow feeders to mimic their natural environment to the best of our current ability.
Teddy is a very special award-winning reining champion who is now in his golden years. He came to us this year after many years of doing his job exceptionally well, but with some current difficulty remaining sound and keeping weight on. He deserves to have a gentle mostly retired life. He requires a thoughtful shoe job on all four of his feet as well as a special diet. Teddy must eat pre-chopped hay and pelleted feed, as well as supplemented weight gain assistance to keep weight on. Half of his feed gets soaked and half does not. He’s a special guy who takes very good care of the children who ride him, so we will continue to take very good care of him and our other senior horses.
Several animals in our care have been or are in the process of being rehabilitated. This includes proper feeding and veterinary care, of course, but many times can include emotional and behavioral rehabilitation as well. We have been able to use our understanding of animal behavior to create a safe environment for these animals. This comes from being intentional, diligent, and thoughtful, consulting with specialists when needed, and not taking on more than we can realistically handle.
Upon hearing that we had significant dog experience, a rescue asked us to please take Missy as she had a lot of challenging behaviors. I was not fully aware the severity of her behaviors and was not sure we could handle her once I saw that she would snarl and bite at anyone who approached her. Both Taylor and myself were bitten by her several times. When I told the rescue that I was not sure we could handle her, she told me to let her know asap as they had an adoption event the following weekend and they wanted her to be able to attend. Baffled by how this dog could safely attend an adoption event, we began consulting with a behavioral specialist and following her advice. We felt we were her only hope to keep her alive as she would surely bite someone else and be euthanized elsewhere. Missy has been with us for about 6 months and has made great strides with structure and very calm, diligent assertive energy, and a cozy place to regularly rest and reset. When she has made a full and consistent transition she will be renamed Greta after the Gremlin (and one of Melanie’s favorite movies).
Children: We offer programs for children most often in the form of camps that are unlike any others. Our camps are part horse camp, part farm camp, part nature camp, and part maker camp. They are Waldorf-inspired and designed by a child clinical psychologist (Dr. Melanie). At Sadie Grove Farm camps, children take chances and flourish and thrive through a mix of child directed free-range farm play and directed and therapeutic activities. We bear witness to each child as they experience change, growth, confidence, and joy as they discover and strengthen their identities and the other children affirmingly hold that space for them.
In addition to plenty of open space, free-range play and the magic of nature, our campers can experience the gifts that an emotional connection to our creature companions, equine or otherwise, can offer. These moments happen organically – as children are naturally often drawn to quiet, gentle moments with animals – or they happen through directed animal-assisted therapeutic activities.
Cordy came to camp from WA to be with her cousin and was pretty sure she wasn’t going to want anything to do with the horses. Early in the week she found herself drawn to the mini horses. She brushed and brushed them, even volunteering to walk them a few times. On the last day of riding, Cordy asked if she could just sit on “the calmest one.” I helped her up and she immediately tensed, being up so high. I guided her to breathe and relax, which she did, but every time the horse shifted, she tensed again. Then she asked to get down. I moved on to working with some other kids. A little while later she came back and asked to give it one more go. This time she fully breathed her body into the saddle and gave up control. She closed her eyes and allowed the horse to move her body, side to side, rhythmically, giving up complete control and trusting Moon to take care of her. We walked around the arena and I talked to this intellectual ten year old about how horses are used therapeutically to move people who can’t move themselves; most importantly, Cordy was able to let go and sink into her body and let Moon move hers.
After a few times around we pulled up to the mounting block and Cordy said, “Well, maybe just one more time around.”
Animal-assisted therapy, in the way we use it directively at Sadie Grove Farm is used most often with horses and on the ground. In its simplest form, campers learn to walk horses on a line, understanding that keeping the horse at the appropriate distance as we walk is symbolic to all relationships. Our campers learn basic ground work, which involves moving a horse freely around the outside of a round pen while the camper stays in the middle. This is done only through body movements and energetic stance of the camper. Through this single activity, an individual learns valuable lessons about themselves, boundaries, assertiveness, empowerment, and connection. Equine assisted therapy taps into a horse’s natural relationship instincts to draw on these lessons in ways that we as humans find much safer, more comforting, and powerful than with other humans. It’s life changing!
Campers also get an opportunity to create something meaningful, beautiful, and natural to take home during their time at Sadie Grove Farm camp. Often times this will involve felting something from sheep’s wool, through either wet or needle felting. At SGF we love when we can see something from its conception to finish through the week, and lately we have even been processing wool directly from the sheep to the take home item. This means campers had the opportunity to see the wool sheared, and helped skirt, clean, dry, card, spin, weave, and felt. Past camp art projects have included Eco-dyeing, goat milk soap, wrapped horseshoes, jewelry, lanterns, lavender sachets, ice dyeing, and making paint and painting materials from items discovered all around the farm. We consider making with one’s hands and working with natural materials to be therapeutic and grounding activities in and of themselves and important piece of our camp’s structure.
Lastly, through chores and farm work, children learn the value of hard work and kindness and can give back to the animals who give us so much. Campers clean pastures and other animal enclosures, scrub water buckets, scoop grain and feed hay, collect eggs, and clean tack. We pour ourselves into cultivating an environment of nurturing for both the animals and the children who come to Sadie Grove, and we see it come full circle as the children learn to care for one another and the animals.
Child Focused Future Goals Sadie Grove Farm has provided small scholarships on an as needed basis to help campers attend our camps. In the past these scholarships have come out of our own pockets and sometimes at a significant cost to ourselves. It is our goal to be able to offer more significant scholarships to a greater number of campers, but not at the cost to the running of the farm or the care of the animals. In addition, we would love to provide access to our camps — the wide open space, the animals, and horseback riding — to children who don’t usually have access because they live in the city or because their exposure is low. Funding would allow us to expand our scholarship program and expand our exposure to reach these children and bring them to the magic of Sadie Grove Farm.
Additional funding could also help sponsor Dr. Melanie’s further training in equine assisted therapy and thus expand Sadie Grove Farm’s offerings there. This training and knowledge would then be brought into the camps to benefit the campers as well.
We would love to plant many more trees for shade and flowering bushes, as well as put in some fun natural landscaping in our “orchard” area that the children would enjoy playing in and around. It is our dream to create a secret garden effect with live willow structures and hideaways and many flowers to add to the magic of the experience of Sadie Grove Farm.
Animal Focused Future Goals Our biggest goal, for both animals and children, would be to build a covered arena in order to protect all creatures from the elements and carry on with programing during both the Winter and Summer months and all inclement weather. This Winter was a great example of why such a thing is so important for our operations to continue, as all activities at Sadie Grove Farm had to stop for many months while it rained. This meant that we lost many months of income. In the Summer months we must ride horses as early as possible to protect both the children and horses from the sun and heat and riding lessons stop during the Summer. This is another chunk of time of lost income for our program. A covered arena would allow all aspects of our program to carry on at all times, including late at night if necessary.
Additional funding is needed to update and secure all fencing for all animals on the property. This fencing has been purchased, very proudly, by us, but we were disheartened to receive quotes for installation and have been consumed by day to day costs instead. The fencing was researched to be a safe and solid choice for horses because it is flexible and has some give if their bodies come in contact with it, but it holds its boundary. In addition, it has a 30 year warranty. This update will be a much safer update for our horses than the wire and wood post fencing that is in place and falling apart, mended with baling twine in many places to get us by. We are very much looking forward to this update.
We also plan to put pea gravel in an area by water troughs in each horse pasture to serve a few purposes. One, to provide a dry area for horses to stand if we were to have another very wet Winter. Two, pea gravel has shown through research to help stimulate the horse’s frog and healthy hoof growth. This is a project we would like to complete in the near future. In addition, we would like to put a base layer and pea gravel down in our round pen to create an all weather riding area and improve the footing in there.
In line with our interest in providing horses with an environment closely matching what is natural for them, it is our goal to create pasture track systems for all of our horses. This would involve blocking off the center of each pasture, creating a track for the horses to move around the outer perimeter of their pasture. This keeps the horses moving, more closely mimicking their grazing movements in the wild. Often times one can place hay in different places and logs for horses to step over, for example. Research has found that this system has several health benefits, including fewer arthritic changes and metabolic issues.
Other updates include rebuilding stalls in the barn, with electricity and fans and a lifted floor to avoid flooding. This would likely include a bathroom with running water and flushing toilet that would also benefit the children and camps.
