The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Will school everbethesame?
A weekly collection of fun and offbeat stories
Nestled in York County, Pennsylvania, Here With Us Farm Sanctuary is a permanent home for farm animals.
Founder and caretaker Amanda Clark walks the grounds each morning, checking on the sanctuary’s 93 rescued animals. Cows, turkeys, pigs and other farm animals that were once abused or neglected make themselves at home on the sanctuary’s property.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the animals were missing visitors and friends, Clark said. “The goats especially like seeing regular guests,” she said.
The sanctuary began an animal pen-pal program in late March. It posted biographies of the animals and their journey to Here With Us on the organization’s website. Visitors can go online and choose one of the farm animals to write to.
“We wanted to give kids and our animals some joy,” she said. “We’ve been doing it a few months now and starting to get responses back from the same kids.”
About 165 miles north in Dalton, Pennsylvania, the Indraloka Animal Sanctuary is also using pen and paper to connect with animals.
Indraloka’s pen-pal program was started several years ago by the sanctuary’s on-campus educator, Sarah Thornton. It was only for children who had participated in events. But during the pandemic, the team at Indraloka decided to expand it for all children.
In return for their letter, kids receive a response from their animal of choice (with the help of a sanctuary representative). Kids also receive a photo and sometimes even a work of art created by the animal.
More information: herewithusfarmsanctuary. org/ and indraloka.org/
A detailed replica of an 1860s Wyoming frontier town, set in the heart of a 900-acre New Zealand ranch, is on the market.
Owner Rob Bartley has maintained the Old West town by hosting an event every month or so.
Set in the heart of New Zealand’s North Island, about a six-hour drive from Auckland, the ranch derives additional income from producing Manuka honey.
Successful as the ranch might be, Bartley says he’s dealing with health issues and has made the difficult decision to sell the entire operation.
“I’m certainly sad to be selling it,” he says. “My family doesn’t really want to sell it, but we’ve got so many other business interests. I’ve got to make some decisions.”
There are 10 “period” buildings, including a licensed saloon, a courthouse that doubles as a cinema, a sheriff ’s office, a billiards lounge, a structure called Texas Rose’s Bathhouse, and 13 guest rooms that can accommodate a total of 22 people.
This was not one of those delivery videos that some pregnant moms plan for.
A Florida birthing center says an expectant mother was a few steps from entering the building but her baby couldn’t wait. She gave birth while standing up outside, with a midwife catching the baby and a doorbell camera catching all the action.
The Miami Herald reports that Susan Anderson already felt the need to push as her husband drove them to the Natural Birthworks center in Margate. The RING video, shared on Facebook, shows Anderson standing in a T-shirt, shorts and flipflops, with her husband supporting her and the midwife helping with the birth.
The baby girl and her mother were doing fine.