Both my husband and I have family that live in various parts of Oregon.  We were hoping to get a chance for a road trip in July so that we could go visit everyone, but he’s swamped right now with work and so our plans have been ditched.  I was really disappointed because not only will we not get to visit our family, but I had wanted to detour a little to Farm Sanctuary during our drive north.  Well, the other morning I was laying in bed thinking that this week would have actually been perfect for a trip to Farm Sanctuary because (1) Emma starts swim lessons next week and will be swimming pretty much every morning for the rest of the summer (except for two weeks in July when we were planning to take our Oregon trip) and (2) even though June is pretty hot for the area where Farm Sanctuary is located (Orland, CA– about 100 miles north of Sacramento), July and August are way hotter.  So, it was decided then… I packed up that day and drove to my parents’ house in Sacramento and all four of us made the trek to Farm Sanctuary yesterday.

About Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary, located in Orland, CA rescues and rehabilitates abused and neglected farm animals from factory farms, stockyards, and slaughterhouses.  Most of the animals at the sanctuary were born to be “food animals,” but are now free to live their lives comfortably and safely at Farm Sanctuary’s 300-acre farm.  The California farm is home to lots of cows, a few donkeys, geese and ducks, pigs, turkeys and chickens, rabbits, and goats and sheep.

While public tours are given only on Saturdays from 11 am to 3 pm, from May 8 to October 31, members are invited to visit between 8 am and 4pm every day of the year.  Becoming a member is very easy– all it takes (at a minimum) is a yearly pledge of $20.  Members also receive Farm Sanctuary’s quarterly newsletter and a discounted rate at their cabin.

I was really interested in visiting because it’s important for Emma to understand why we don’t eat animals.  She does have dairy on occasion, but is mostly vegan and my hope is that it will soon be her choice to avoid dairy (which would make her totally vegan) once she is old enough to understand what is involved in producing dairy and that it’s not really all that great for our body.  Likewise, I want her to be educated about where meat comes from in the event that she chooses to eat meat later in life.  I grew up thinking chicken came from the grocery store and asking questions like “are we eating the muscle of the animal?” without really getting a detailed answer.  Knowing her personality, I don’t think she would ever regularly consume meat– and you can’t miss or crave something that you’ve never had– so I don’t think this will ever be an issue, but I would like her to be educated nonetheless.  At this stage, everything is kept very basic and I only tell her what she needs to know in terms that are easy for her to understand.  Besides that, she’s out of school for the summer and fun little educational trips like this are enjoyable for her.

Road Trip

We left Sacramento around 9 am and made it to Orland around 11am.  It was quite windy yesterday, which I was thankful for because that meant it wouldn’t be so hot.  I’ll take wind over heat any day when we’re farm-bound.  Since there is no place to eat at the farm, we decided to first have lunch in town and then make our way to the farm.  I always get nervous about traveling to small towns in the middle of nowhere surrounded by food-animal farms because I’m concerned that finding something vegetarian (let alone vegan) will be quite challenging.  Thanks to Farm Sanctuary’s website, I was armed with a list of veg-friendly restaurants in Orland and I hit the jackpot with the one we stumbled upon.

The first one on the list, Alta Marie’s Bakery, was the place I chose to visit because the Farm Sanctuary description indicated that they carried vegan pastries on a regular basis.  I was hoping to score some… and I liked that they were described as offering vegan items instead of “things can be made vegan upon request.”  I get tired of going places where I can really only order a salad and even then I have to request that it be made without the cheese or meat that normally comes on it.  It gets old.

Alta Marie’s is pretty much right off the freeway and easy to find.  We strolled inside and perused the menu and I was nervous that perhaps they weren’t so vegan friendly after all.  Everything on the menu was meat, meat and more meat.  So I asked the person at the counter what was vegan and she consulted with the owner/baker to figure out what vegan dish could be whipped up based on what they had on hand in their kitchen.  I really liked that they were so accommodating and went the extra mile to make me something as special as the rest of the dishes.  They even knew enough to ask if honey was okay for me since one of their salad dressings did contain honey.  I was very impressed with their knowledge of what vegans eat and don’t eat and really thrilled that they had 3 turnovers in their pastry case that were all vegan (2 pineapple and 1 cherry).

Even though the list was pretty extensive, I settled on their house salad with dried cranberries, fresh strawberries and walnuts added.  I opted for the balsamic vinaigrette (the one that had honey in it because I thought it would be more appealing to my kiddo and I hoped she might want to share my salad), but they do have a raspberry vinaigrette that is all vegan.  I know honey isn’t vegan and I do avoid it whenever possible, but one little cheat won’t get the vegan police after me, I hope.  After lunch, I snagged all three of the turnovers– they were SO GOOD!!!

Alta Marie’s makes vegan cakes and pies if you give them a little notice.  They even make vegan wedding cakes!

We Arrive At Last

The farm is located about 10 minutes outside of Orland and was really easy to find.  Once we got there, I got my membership and we set off to see the animals.  When I was signing up for my membership and the Farm Sanctuary gal was going over the map with me, she said something like “over here are the turkeys and chickens…” while pointing at the map.  Emma then chimes in (rather loudly, as she has no volume control):  “Chickens and turkeys!!  We don’t eat those!!!!!!!!”  It was cute.  The Farm Sanctuary gal responded: “You’re in the right place then because neither do we.  We just love them!”  It was cute.

(Click on each image to see a larger version.)

Excited to see the cows... or happy to be out of the car?

Happy California cows. No, they aren't found on dairy farms, contrary to what the cheese commercial says.

Noisy geese!

Sleepy chicken... I interrupted her nap to take this photo.

Friendly sheep. He came right up to the gate to greet us. I think he was hoping for a treat.

Turkey. You can see that s/he's been debeaked, which means s/he probably came from a factory farm.

Turkey toes, or lack thereof. Further evidence that s/he came from a factory farm.

And here’s some video of the hungry pig who came over to say hi!  Emma had a full conversation with her, but you can’t really hear anything because of the wind: