Completion!
Today was an emotional day for everyone here at Darthia Farm. The kindergarten and first grade of the Peninsula School came for their annual field trip but we weren't so sure there would ever be another. After the fire, we began to get letters from children at the school telling us to "never give up" and that convinced us that we had to keep the farm going. Then they invited us to their school where the K-8 students presented us with their memories of their K-1 fieldtrip.
Today, when they drove up the lane in their school bus, all 50 of them, everything seemed to come together for me. They were excited to see the new horses and sheep and especially the barn with the room set aside for important things like the beautiful book they gave us with all their drawings and stories about the farm.
The barn is now complete. We have 6 new ewes given to us by the Wakeman family in Addison, and our beautiful team of horses who think their new living quarters are just dandy.
We are busy building shelves and putting latches on doors. It's a beautiful barn, and especially beautiful when the animals are in it. I've ordered sleighbells to replace the ones we lost in the fire, paid for by friend who gave me a check at the Common Ground Fair. I don't know how this happened but we came within a few hundred dollars of having donations cover the entire cost of replacing the barn, rebuilding the dye shed, buying the horses.
A neighbor down the road spent two days installing electricity and lighting throughout the barn at no cost to us and the Wednesday Spinners outfitted the new dye shed with dyes and equipment that were lost in the fire.
There is really no way to thank everyone who helped. Some donations were anonymous, some had no addresses, but we appreciate so much the kindness of nearly a thousand people who helped in some way with carpentry, advice, organizing the donations, cooking for crews of workers, contracting, giving us doors, sheep, chickens. This has truly been a wondrous event and clearly shows that if people get together, there is no end to what they can accomplish.
Thank you all for your thoughts, donations, and encouragement.
You can be assured that we will "pass it on."
Today, when they drove up the lane in their school bus, all 50 of them, everything seemed to come together for me. They were excited to see the new horses and sheep and especially the barn with the room set aside for important things like the beautiful book they gave us with all their drawings and stories about the farm.
The barn is now complete. We have 6 new ewes given to us by the Wakeman family in Addison, and our beautiful team of horses who think their new living quarters are just dandy.
We are busy building shelves and putting latches on doors. It's a beautiful barn, and especially beautiful when the animals are in it. I've ordered sleighbells to replace the ones we lost in the fire, paid for by friend who gave me a check at the Common Ground Fair. I don't know how this happened but we came within a few hundred dollars of having donations cover the entire cost of replacing the barn, rebuilding the dye shed, buying the horses.
A neighbor down the road spent two days installing electricity and lighting throughout the barn at no cost to us and the Wednesday Spinners outfitted the new dye shed with dyes and equipment that were lost in the fire.
There is really no way to thank everyone who helped. Some donations were anonymous, some had no addresses, but we appreciate so much the kindness of nearly a thousand people who helped in some way with carpentry, advice, organizing the donations, cooking for crews of workers, contracting, giving us doors, sheep, chickens. This has truly been a wondrous event and clearly shows that if people get together, there is no end to what they can accomplish.
Thank you all for your thoughts, donations, and encouragement.
You can be assured that we will "pass it on."