We seem to spend quite a bit of time out and about in the Finger Lakes area, with one of our favorite destinations being Watkins Glen. And, of course, we have countless different routes to come and go by! (Time to get our your NYS Atlas & Gazeteer-pages 73,59,45!) Our latest excursion was the day before Christmas Eve. We decided to pay a visit to our "foster sheep"…yes, you heard correctly. To explain…earlier this summer we set out for a couple of days to explore Lamoka and Waneta lakes that lie between Keuka and Seneca Lakes. They are the smallest of the Finger Lakes, each only a couple of miles long. There are two state-maintained "small boat" launches available on Route 23, just west of Weston. These lakes are a couple of little gems, although there are an overabundance of cottages lining their shores; they’re best visited during the week. After deciding that at 95 degrees with no wind, it was just too hot to be fishing, so we headed back east on Route 23 toward Watkins Glen. We were staying at the Castel Grisch B&B for the night (more on Castel Grisch another time!). Of course, I had been studying our Finger Lakes Guide and had spotted something that we HAD to check out…the "Farm Sanctuary". It just happened to be only a mile or so up the road from Lamoka and Waneta, just off Route 23 on Aikens Road. As the narrow dirt road wound up a hillside, a wide open field dotted with red barns appeared. Cattle, sheep, and pigs were grazing in their respective pastures. We walked into the Visitor Center (dubbed The People Barn) and realized that this was no ordinary farm. It’s staffed mainly by volunteers, and they are devoted to the rescue and rehabilitation of abused and neglected farm animals. It’s kind of like heaven on earth for these animals. Being a not-for-profit organization, they rely mainly on donations for feed, veterinary care, etc. You can "adopt" their farm animals…if you have appropriate facilities at home you can actually have the animals come live with you. If not, you can sponsor an animal while it remains living at the farm. Ethan sponsored a sheep for me for my birthday this summer; her name is "Simba". I have an official "adoption" certificate, complete with her picture, and we can visit whenever we like.

So, off we went to visit Simba and her other farm buddies, the truck loaded with a bushel of apples, 100 pounds of sheep feed and cracked corn, a bag of Vet Wrap bandages, antibiotic sprays for wounds, and office supplies for the farm "people". The folks at the Ontario Country Max store on Route 104 have been really helpful, educating me regarding various types of feed…who gets what, when, etc. That morning was bright and sunny at home, but as we headed south on Route 21 (after a yummy breakfast at The Original Candy Kitchen) the skies warned us that we’d probably run into some snow. We picked up Smith Road just outside of Canandaigua at Chapin and headed on down to Route 5&20 toward Geneva. Ethan had decided that we were going to find "Pre-Emption Road" and tour down to Penn Yan exploring the countryside. The snow had started and Pre-Emption Road rose steeply in front of us, and it was slippery. The view from the top of the hill was outstanding, except that going up a hill only means one thing…you have to go down. We decided that this road was the local version of our all-time favorite narrowest, steepest, scariest road: Joe’s Hill Road on the island of Tortola (another story for another time). We made it safely over to Route 14A, thanks to our mighty Dodge 4-wheel drive, and stopped in Penn Yan to do some shopping. What a great town! The Spring Wheat Natural Food store has become a favorite. They have a great variety of cheeses, coffee beans, dozens and dozens of varieties of dried herbs and spices, natural soaps, and on and on. There are a number of really nice gift and clothing stores, a good old-fashioned hardware store and a variety of Pubs. We found a deluxe Santa hat for Ethan (I already had one!) and got a lot of honks and waves as we left town disguised as Mr. and Mrs. Santa.

We hiked around the rest of the farm, exploring the barns and visiting with their various residents. There were at least 40 enormous pigs dozing in the straw in the Pig Barn. What a sight! They were curled up next to and on top of each other burrowed down into the straw, steam rising from their snouts in the crisp air. As we walked in the Chicken Barn, a hundred chickens all came over to check us out, clucking their greetings. Some were wandering around outside the barn, and came over to pick at our boots, cocking their heads as they gave us the "once over". Another barn housed turkeys, another full of bunnies playing tag through a maze of bales of straw and snug little houses. A flock of turkeys, ducks, and geese scuttled over to greet us as we approached their fence. The barns are lovingly maintained, all filled with clean, dry straw. With the abundance of care, kindness, feed, and fresh, clean water, it’s really paradise for these animals that once had such sad lives.