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Hello everyone, my name is Ryan and you are listening to The Vegan Report.

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To begin 2024 on a good note, I wanted to share a short conversation I had on the topic

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of micro sanctuaries.

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Have you ever heard of the concept of a micro sanctuary?

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It's a relatively recent trend.

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Basically the idea behind it is that you don't need lots of resources or space to provide

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sanctuary to animals who would have otherwise been mercilessly used as commodities.

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It's a powerful concept and to help me learn more about it and its implications, who better

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than a micro sanctuary owner?

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So today for a special micro episode on micro sanctuaries, I have with me the amazing Jessica

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who is behind the farm micro sanctuary.

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Welcome to the podcast, Jessica.

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Thank you so much for being here.

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Thanks for having me.

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So my first question for you is what is a micro sanctuary?

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Your sanctuary is called the farm micro sanctuary.

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So what is this concept all about?

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So the concept of micro sanctuary is that we don't have to be a big sanctuary to do

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good work.

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We don't have to have acres and acres of land.

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In theory being a micro sanctuary is as little as rescuing one animal into sanctuary.

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It allows for more people to be able to take in small amounts of animals which then helps

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free up bigger sanctuaries to do their work as well.

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So it's just it's a numbers game.

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It's being able to help as many as you can.

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Micro sanctuaries can be 100% self-funded.

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They're not necessarily a 501c3 nonprofit.

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They're just somebody who wants to make their bit of difference in the world.

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And there is a lot of diversity of micro sanctuaries out there.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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There are micro sanctuaries for what they call pocket pets, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits.

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A lot of times there's a lot of chickens.

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A lot of times it's chickens, but it can be any animal.

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I think every vegan out there has fantasized at least once about opening our own sanctuary.

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But I guess we think, oh, I'm not in a rural area and I need a lot of lands.

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So I feel like a micro sanctuary is the answer to that problem, to that struggle.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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And that was really what started for me was just, you know, I went vegan and I did want

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to make a difference.

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And so we just started really small.

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Well I want to talk about your journey.

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But first, I would like you to maybe give us a tour of your own sanctuary.

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I want to know how big is it?

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Where is it located?

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And who are the animals that you're sheltering right now?

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Yep.

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So we're located in Larwell, Indiana.

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It's a tiny little town, about 250 people.

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I only have four acres here, not quite four acres.

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I live right on the edge of town.

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The journey for me started probably in 2019 when I took in my first goat.

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We now have 45 animals total.

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And that sounds like a lot, but 22 of them are chickens, so they don't take up very much

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room.

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We have two horses.

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One was my own horse before, and then we took on another one, and then a pony.

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We have a pony who lives here.

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And then we have 13 goats, six cats, and a dog.

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That's impressive.

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So how did it start?

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How did you become vegan and then decide to take the leap to opening your own sanctuary

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and doing more?

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So I was vegetarian for years, a long time.

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And I worked in a veterinarian clinic as a technician for several years.

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And at that time, I rescued a lot of cats.

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There's always cats in need, so I rescued cats.

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And then as the years went by, I took in my first goat, Lucas, who we still have, and

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two of his brothers who have since passed on.

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And I just fell in love.

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And about that time is when I went vegan as well.

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And so it started with just, hey, I'm going to do what I can.

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Micro sanctuary, I can do that.

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So we just started rescuing little by little.

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I added another goat, and I added a family of chickens who lost their home due to a zoning

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violation.

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They weren't allowed to have chickens.

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So we just kind of grew.

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And then in 2021, I was big enough that self-funding was getting to take a lot.

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And I wanted to still be able to grow.

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And so that's when I made the decision to go ahead and apply for the nonprofit status

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and become an actual 501c3 sanctuary so that we could take donations.

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And I still don't make anything off of the sanctuary.

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The sanctuary is 100% volunteer-ran.

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None of us get paid anything.

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But the sanctuary animals, their food and everything has been able to be paid by donations

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now.

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I want to know more about the kind of work behind running a sanctuary.

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So how many hours do you devote to caring for the animals?

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Okay.

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So my day starts at 4 a.m., 4.15.

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I get up.

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And from then until 7.30 is taking care of animals.

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So feeding, watering, cleaning pens, cleaning stalls, making sure everybody is good for

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the morning.

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And then because I don't get any money for the sanctuary, I then go to my full-time job.

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So I work eight hours a day, just like everybody else.

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And then I come home and I spend another two or three hours doing the same thing over again.

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Cleaning, feeding, making sure everybody's good, any medications, any special needs.

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Some of our animals are handicapped, so they require a little bit more attention.

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And then I have a handicapped goat that lives in the house.

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So then I usually spend an hour or two with him at the end of the day to make sure he's

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getting all that he needs.

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So I finally go to bed at 10 o'clock.

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That's really impressive.

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And do you have any help?

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You talked about volunteers.

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Are there people who have volunteered to help you?

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I have a couple of volunteers.

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So I have one, my next door neighbor, who is a huge supporter.

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She volunteers almost every day.

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She comes while I'm at work to check on the handicapped goats, make sure they're okay.

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And then she helps with part of the chores at night so that it doesn't take me quite

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as long.

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And then I have a couple other volunteers that come once every week or so as their schedules

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allow.

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And then also my high school age niece is very passionate about it.

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So she volunteers whenever her schedule allows to.

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That kind of work can be hard and it takes dedication.

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What is the driving force behind it?

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Well, so I've always been an animal lover and seeing these animals that they've all

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come from, not all, but most have come from bad situations, seeing them happy and relaxed

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and safe.

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That's everything.

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And also, I guess, we know that by going vegan, we make a huge impact environmentally.

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And so we try to advocate for veganism whenever we go out to events or anything and advocate

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for what we believe in.

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And I guess part of that is just my little bit of trying to save the world.

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Well, that's the goal of this podcast is to help or inspire vegans to do the extra step

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to be more than vegan because we need it.

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Animals need it.

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And yeah, this is how you decided to contribute to the fight for animal rights.

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Now, why are sanctuaries important to have?

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It's important because so many people, there's such a disconnect between people and where

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their food comes from.

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When we go to the market in Fort Wayne, the big city nearby, we go to the farmer's market

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in the summer and we take our handicapped goat to greet people.

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He is very social.

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He loves people.

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So he enjoys it.

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And a lot of people have never met a goat or they've never really thought of it.

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So we have a lot of good conversations with people because they just don't correlate an

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animal to what they see in the grocery store.

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So having a sanctuary and having people follow along and posting pictures or videos of the

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animals, it's important because it helps people make that connection and see that these animals

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want to live and they are full of character and emotion and smart.

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So it's important to help spread that awareness.

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I absolutely love this argument.

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I think that it is better to show people than to argue with them online or something like

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that.

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I think it's more powerful.

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I did an entire episode on the Vegan Festival of Montreal and just the idea of taking a

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non-vegan and immersing that vegan in a vegan environment is, I think, more convincing for

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our cause than anything else.

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So I love that aspect of it.

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Yeah, a lot of times if you use numbers, the numbers are so large that it's hard to comprehend.

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And so it's easier to ignore for most people.

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And if you argue with them, then of course you're a militant vegan.

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So I find that we try to take a more positive approach and really highlight the animals.

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That's part of what was so great about having Jack, our goat, at the farmers market.

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A lot of times we were somewhere close.

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Our booth would be close to a booth selling animal flesh, which was disconcerting from

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my point of view, but it also opened a dialogue with several people that went, oh, hey, wait,

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you're doing this, but that person over there is doing that.

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And maybe it opened some channels of conversation.

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And what is it like to be vegan in a rural area?

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Because I have seen a trend online of many vegan influencers deciding to live a rural

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life, a self-sustaining life.

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And then they stop being vegan because I guess the environment in which they're in is just

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not propitious for a vegan diet or they don't get social support.

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I don't get it.

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Yeah, can you tell us about what it's like to be vegan far from the city?

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It's not easy.

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I mean, I'm lucky that Fort Wayne is about half an hour away and we do have a lot of

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vegan options there.

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And in the grocery stores, it's getting better.

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We can get a lot of vegan stuff now that even five years ago you couldn't get.

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It's hard though, because I live right smack in the middle of deep ag.

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There's a multimillion dollar dairy two miles down the road.

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There's hog farms everywhere.

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There's a huge egg producer the next town over where they have lots of those big long

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sheds just crammed full of chickens and it's heartbreaking.

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So it's hard because you know that you're outnumbered, right?

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But you just do your thing and keep at it and hope that you plant a seed somewhere.

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You're not going to win them all over, but you can at least plant some seeds.

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But there is something beautiful thinking about how you're this ray of sunshine in

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the middle of this darkness.

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I don't know.

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There's something beautiful to it.

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Yeah, I try to be that way.

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Yeah.

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I'm the only sanctuary in a pretty big area here.

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The closest sanctuaries from me are a couple hours away.

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So I'm the only one.

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Yeah, it's autumn right now and this is the season when many of the people who adopted

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backyard chickens will get rid of their chickens.

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I'm already noticing ads for getting rid of their roosters or other chickens that stopped

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laying eggs because many people here in Canada don't have the adequate place to keep the

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chickens for the winter.

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They have no isolation and things like that.

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That's also the time when a lot of sanctuaries here in Canada cannot take any more residents.

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It's heartbreaking the situation that it creates.

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So I wonder, Jessica, what kind of obstacles does someone who starts a sanctuary encounters

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in everyday life but also during the different seasons?

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So you're right.

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Certain seasons you get more requests.

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I've already had a few requests about chickens.

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Only at this time we're closed.

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So new intakes.

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We're full until I can develop more of a volunteer program and bring in more volunteers.

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There's just not enough time in my day to add more.

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So that part's hard because you just want to help them all.

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It's heartbreaking to say no.

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The different seasons have their challenges.

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Winter here isn't as cold as Canada, but we still get pretty cold, sometimes snowy.

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So that obviously adds work.

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I'm lucky that we have really good, we have four barns and I'm able to at least provide

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some heat source in three of them.

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So we've managed that pretty well, but if it snows, that's extra work.

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It's extra shoveling.

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It's harder to get around.

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It's harder to haul the hay around.

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All of that.

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So it's extra work.

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Plus, the animals are inside more, so it's extra cleaning.

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And then in the summer you deal with the heat, so you got to keep everybody cool.

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We run fans 24-7.

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And then on top of that, I try to keep a garden for fresh produce for them and sometimes me,

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but mostly for them.

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So there's that to manage mowing because we don't use any kind of spray on any of the

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ground here.

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I don't allow any chemicals.

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So for weed control for noxious weeds or invasive weeds, we mow.

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So there's always mowing to be done and cleaning up all of that.

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So each season has its own challenge.

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This season, fall, right now we're dealing with walnuts.

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We have about 12 walnut trees on the property that are dropping nuts like crazy.

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Obviously, we can't just leave them for the horses to stand on or potentially get hurt

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on and same with the goats.

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So later today I'll be out picking up walnuts.

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Yeah, because I'm thinking about the listeners who are thinking, oh, what if I start my micro

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sanctuary?

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And I want them to know that there are big challenges to starting that sanctuary.

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It's a big responsibility to take.

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So what would you say to them?

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I would say go volunteer somewhere first.

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Typically, that's the best way to see what sanctuary is really about because even as

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a micro sanctuary, even if you're taking one or two animals, you want to know what the

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idea of sanctuary is.

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You want to give them the best care.

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A lot of times you don't stop and think about what about if they need a vet?

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Do you have like an avian vet nearby if you're going to have chickens?

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Our closest avian vet is two hours away.

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So that can be challenging.

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Then also you got to think about funding.

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What if there's an emergency?

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Are you going to be able to afford the right kind of care?

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And the other thing about sanctuary is it's for their whole life.

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You're committing to, depending on the animal, potentially 10 or 20 years to giving the animal

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their best life.

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So it's a real commitment.

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It's not like a dog that could follow you if you move out of your house.

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You need to take full responsibility for their entire life.

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So yeah, it's a big commitment.

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You talked about funding.

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Now you are present on Instagram and I will leave a link in the description for people

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who want to see pictures of your sanctuary.

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And I guess one way to support you in your mission is to give you money.

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So how is your experience of fundraising for your sanctuary?

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So fundraising is the hardest part.

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At least it is for me because I'm a very independent person and I've always just done things myself.

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So suddenly becoming a nonprofit and going, oh, I have to ask for money.

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That's what it means to be a nonprofit.

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Asking for money is hard.

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It's not fun.

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But we do it because that way we can do more.

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We're able to give them the best of everything that they need.

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My handicapped animals, sometimes a wheelchair breaks or we just had an orthopedic brace

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made for the pony and this stuff takes money.

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So we fundraise a lot on social media.

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We are on Instagram, as you said.

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We're also on Facebook.

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I have a TikTok account.

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One of my board of directors actually runs that for me because I don't know how to TikTok.

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And then we also have Patreon.

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So those kind of donations are really important because they're recurring and we can depend

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on that money as our basis for their standard care.

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So that's all important.

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And then there's other things too.

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Spending time helps tremendously.

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Volunteering or donating items.

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I have some people who visit and every time they visit, they bring animal crackers for

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the animals or bleach or cleaning wipes or something that we use because that helps tremendously.

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It doesn't have to be a lot.

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It's just every little bit adds up and helps us do everything that we need to do.

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That's amazing.

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And there is a book.

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It is called Asking from Gerald Panas.

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And I always reference that book and recommend it for people who start a fundraiser.

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It's an essential to how to ask for money.

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And he goes in great length describing why it's so hard to ask for money and what you

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can do about it.

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So it's a great key book.

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So Jessica, did you want to add something before we end this conversation?

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I think micro sanctuaries are important.

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I think every little tiny sanctuary that starts takes a little bit of pressure off those animals

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that are just in dire need.

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And there's so many different kinds of animals that need us to do this.

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We ended up going more towards handicapped animals.

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We have several goats in wheelchairs.

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We have a handicapped chicken, a blind chicken.

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There's just lots of opportunity to do it and do it on a scale that you can manage.

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There's lots of resources out there for micro sanctuaries.

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There's actually an organization, microsanctuary.org.

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They actually will do grants for micro sanctuaries to help with getting that shelter made for

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your residents or fencing or medical.

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They have medical grants as well.

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So there are options out there, even if you're not a 501c3, that you can get help.

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Yeah.

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And I will add the link to their website in the description.

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Yeah.

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And you need to be creative.

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I mean, how do you care for a blind chicken or a handicapped goat?

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It's not like there is a how to guide online or something specialized on that.

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I mean, you need to invent.

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You do.

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So especially with the handicapped animals, there's an especially handicapped farmed animals.

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There's not a lot of a previous history of helping them.

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The veterinarians just haven't had that put in front of them.

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Farmers don't want to spend the money on a handicapped animal.

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That's a loss of profit.

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So sanctuaries, that's the other amazing thing about sanctuary is we are pushing that field

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to explore these options for these animals.

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And we're furthering the science for them just by demanding that same standard of care

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for these animals versus, say, your dog.

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So that's really an important thing.

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And also something I forgot to mention.

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I guess animals come to you, the animals in need of help.

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You don't have to go looking for them.

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There are so few sanctuaries out there.

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Yeah, you will always have a demand for sheltering animals.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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There's so many that need help.

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All the sanctuaries, big or small, routinely have to turn them away because there's not

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room for them all.

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So there's always room for more sanctuary.

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Amazing.

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So thank you so much, Jessica.

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This was a great talk with lots of information.

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I hope it motivates people to maybe do something about it.

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And yeah, thank you for your great work, your inspiring work, and for having accepted my

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invitation.

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Well, thanks for having me.

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That was fun.

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Thank you.