I tried to kill myself when I was seven
years old even at seven I had been here
long enough to know that I didn’t want
to be here
the kids were awful to each other at
school people were cruel to animals
there was suffering everywhere and
nobody was listening well at seven years
old I had no idea how to kill myself so
after several failed attempts I ran down
to the garden that had always been my
sanctuary and it was a hummingbird that
heard my cries and it was a hummingbird
that answered them he flew within inches
of my face for probably two minutes but
it felt like forever and he hovered
there with his cobalt blue and
shimmering orange and fiery red his
thumbing wings and his little tucked
feet and his black beady eyes that
looked into mine and he noticed me and
he beckoned me to stay and he saved my
life a feeling of peace and well-being
came over me like everything was gonna
be okay and that’s where my love affair
with animals really took off I find
myself needing to be with nature and
animals every second that I could and
during my adventures and explorations of
the woods and the lakes it I realized
that sometimes animals need our help I
would find birds that fell out of their
nest or turtles with broken shells and I
would bring them home and I came up with
a dream to have a place full of animals
that I saved and they would be my
friends well my poor parents didn’t want
a house full of animals and they would
send them away and I was baffled why
weren’t they listening why didn’t they
care almost 20 years later as a young
adult living on my own I discovered a
petting zoo I’d never seen before and I
went in just to be nosy and I found a
lot of abuse and neglect there but more
horrifying than the overgrown toenails
and the deformed legs more horrifying
than the beatings of the ponies and not
one drop of water on that property was
that the place was full of people and
not one of them could see the suffering
right in front of them they were too
busy holding hands and skipping around
smiling and taking pictures and posing
their kids next to these dilapidated
animals and it broke my heart
so I started bringing them home to my
little half acre backyard and healing
them and one day months later I looked
out my little backyard to a my I look
out my window to a backyard that was now
full of animals and said holy cow I just
started my dream well that was 20 years
ago and then general barn is now a
national nonprofit organization located
in three different states where we take
in animals that nobody else wants
rehabilitate them give them sanctuary
for the rest of their lives and partner
with them to connect children with
nature and animals and heal people with
the same stories of abuse and neglect so
I have lived in a barnyard for 20 years
and I have incredible stories of their
friendships and their love affairs of
their personalities their affection and
their intelligence so today I want to
tell you the story about karma karma was
is a little itty bitty cow that we
rescued from severe cruelty several
years ago she’s a little itty-bitty cow
red with a white face covered in
freckles
she has fuzzy teddy bear ears and long
eyelashes and she came in with a few
other cows from a severe cruelty case
and what was different about her than
anyone else was that she kept crying and
we couldn’t figure out why all day long
incessantly pacing and crying pacing and
crying but she had food she had water
she had shelter she had friends and she
passed the vet check so what could
possibly be wrong with her well she
cried all that first day and all that
first night and finally in the wee hours
of the following morning I went down to
figure out what she was trying to tell
me and I found
she was dripping milk what does that
mean she had a baby so I called my
husband J and said she’s crying because
she has a baby and he said I’m on it and
through an amazing set of circumstances
my husband found the baby navigated his
release and was able to bring him back
to the gentle Barton now the baby never
thought he was gonna see his mom again
so when we let him out of a trailer and
he rounded the corner and saw his mom
again he passed out at her feet and she
went over and very gently licked him and
gently nudged him and made quiet urging
sounds to him and he finally came to and
found the strength to stand up and then
she gave him a bath until he was soaking
wet and when he nursed she let out a big
sigh of relief and she has not made a
sound since now that’s where we thought
the story would end happily ever after
reunited together forever at the gentle
barn but eight months later my staff
came to me at the end of a long day and
they said that they were worried about
karma because her udders were swollen
does she have an infection I asked no we
think she’s about to have another baby
and I said but that’s impossible we just
rescued her with a tiny nursing baby
surely they wouldn’t have impregnated
her again so soon and they said we’ll
just keep an eye out well we have a
ritual at the general barn till last 20
years where before we go to bed we check
on the animals and make sure that
they’re okay so that night I tucked the
piggies into bed with blankets I counted
the chickens and turkeys to make sure
they were safely on their roosts I’m gay
I gave kisses and cookies to the horses
and when I walked to the cow pasture
karma was at the fence waiting for me
and I went up to her and I said what’s
the matter girl what’s going on and she
turned her body around and there was a
foot sticking out of her so I ran up to
the house as fast as I possibly could
and I said to my husband and children
wake up for having a baby
and we ran down to the cow pasture and
when we got there the 20 cows that we
had at the time were all in a perfect
circle around karma so me and my husband
and children took our place in the
circle and we watched her labor and we
watched her contract and we watched her
push and we watched her give birth and
we watched her clean him up and dry him
off we watched him struggle to stand and
figure out how to walk and learn to
nurse this whole thing took two hours
and not one of us moved when he finally
drank his fill and laid down to sleep
off his birth all twenty cows
simultaneously broke the circle and
formed a single-file line in front of
the baby
and nobody pushed and nobody shoved and
nobody said I’m here first
the matriarch Sande elders took the
front and the submissive younger cows
took the back and once the line was
formed the matriarch in the front went
up to the baby and she licked him and
she welcomed him and she introduced
herself and then she moved off and a
second in line welcomed him and the
third in line introduced herself and the
fourth and the fifth until every cow in
that family welcomed that baby and when
the cows were done me my husband and my
children took our turn meeting the baby
for the first time and then we all sat
down under the moonlight with smiles on
our faces and watched him sleep and we
realized that we were witness to
something very sacred and very special
that the real world doesn’t get to see
because in the real world there is no
family for animals in the real world
animals fall in love and they’re torn
apart in the real world mommies don’t
get to raise their babies babies are
taken away and they scream for each
other
on deaf ears well we named him surprise
and every member of that family took a
turn raising him they all played with
him they all protected him they all
disciplined him every member of that
family raised him and he grew up to be a
fine young man cow and karma was a
little itty-bitty thing but surprise
grew to be 3,000 pounds in over seven
feet tall and by the time he was a year
old he had to lay down and roll upside
down to nurse and it was a little
embarrassing and sometimes I would come
up to her and say karma he’s in college
now you can cut him off but she would
look at me with her sweet wise face and
she would say he’s my last baby I’m
gonna love him as long as I can and she
nursed him for five years well karma was
so little and her sons were so big they
developed mobility issues and sadly she
outlived both of them but that same
circle surrounded her when she was
whispering in her son’s ears that she
loved them and it was okay to go and
they stayed by her side and mourned and
grieved with her animals love their
babies just like we do they want to have
families and community and friends just
like we do and they celebrate life and
they mourn loss just like we do animals
and the people that love them have
always been my circle who’s in your
have always heard my cries who hears
yours and I have dedicated my life to
hearing and answering the cries around
me whose cries do you answer I’m not
suggesting that you all go home tonight
and start bringing home cows although if
you did you’d really like it but I am
suggesting that we are far more powerful
as individuals than we know we are and
every single day when we’re shopping and
we’re spending money and we’re going
places we are voting with our dollars to
either support companies that harm and
cause suffering to animals that destroy
this planet and make our bodies ill or
we’re voting for companies and products
that love animals and keep them safe
that have reverence for Mother Earth and
the environment and that heal and
nourish our bodies and when we create
families of our own we are molding and
forming the next generation to listen
instead of squishing bugs we can teach
our children to take them safely outside
instead of chasing birds at the park we
can teach them to sit beside us and
admire their beauty and instead of
picking flowers we can teach our
children to cherish their life because
the cries we answer today can change the world
years old even at seven I had been here
long enough to know that I didn’t want
to be here
the kids were awful to each other at
school people were cruel to animals
there was suffering everywhere and
nobody was listening well at seven years
old I had no idea how to kill myself so
after several failed attempts I ran down
to the garden that had always been my
sanctuary and it was a hummingbird that
heard my cries and it was a hummingbird
that answered them he flew within inches
of my face for probably two minutes but
it felt like forever and he hovered
there with his cobalt blue and
shimmering orange and fiery red his
thumbing wings and his little tucked
feet and his black beady eyes that
looked into mine and he noticed me and
he beckoned me to stay and he saved my
life a feeling of peace and well-being
came over me like everything was gonna
be okay and that’s where my love affair
with animals really took off I find
myself needing to be with nature and
animals every second that I could and
during my adventures and explorations of
the woods and the lakes it I realized
that sometimes animals need our help I
would find birds that fell out of their
nest or turtles with broken shells and I
would bring them home and I came up with
a dream to have a place full of animals
that I saved and they would be my
friends well my poor parents didn’t want
a house full of animals and they would
send them away and I was baffled why
weren’t they listening why didn’t they
care almost 20 years later as a young
adult living on my own I discovered a
petting zoo I’d never seen before and I
went in just to be nosy and I found a
lot of abuse and neglect there but more
horrifying than the overgrown toenails
and the deformed legs more horrifying
than the beatings of the ponies and not
one drop of water on that property was
that the place was full of people and
not one of them could see the suffering
right in front of them they were too
busy holding hands and skipping around
smiling and taking pictures and posing
their kids next to these dilapidated
animals and it broke my heart
so I started bringing them home to my
little half acre backyard and healing
them and one day months later I looked
out my little backyard to a my I look
out my window to a backyard that was now
full of animals and said holy cow I just
started my dream well that was 20 years
ago and then general barn is now a
national nonprofit organization located
in three different states where we take
in animals that nobody else wants
rehabilitate them give them sanctuary
for the rest of their lives and partner
with them to connect children with
nature and animals and heal people with
the same stories of abuse and neglect so
I have lived in a barnyard for 20 years
and I have incredible stories of their
friendships and their love affairs of
their personalities their affection and
their intelligence so today I want to
tell you the story about karma karma was
is a little itty bitty cow that we
rescued from severe cruelty several
years ago she’s a little itty-bitty cow
red with a white face covered in
freckles
she has fuzzy teddy bear ears and long
eyelashes and she came in with a few
other cows from a severe cruelty case
and what was different about her than
anyone else was that she kept crying and
we couldn’t figure out why all day long
incessantly pacing and crying pacing and
crying but she had food she had water
she had shelter she had friends and she
passed the vet check so what could
possibly be wrong with her well she
cried all that first day and all that
first night and finally in the wee hours
of the following morning I went down to
figure out what she was trying to tell
me and I found
she was dripping milk what does that
mean she had a baby so I called my
husband J and said she’s crying because
she has a baby and he said I’m on it and
through an amazing set of circumstances
my husband found the baby navigated his
release and was able to bring him back
to the gentle Barton now the baby never
thought he was gonna see his mom again
so when we let him out of a trailer and
he rounded the corner and saw his mom
again he passed out at her feet and she
went over and very gently licked him and
gently nudged him and made quiet urging
sounds to him and he finally came to and
found the strength to stand up and then
she gave him a bath until he was soaking
wet and when he nursed she let out a big
sigh of relief and she has not made a
sound since now that’s where we thought
the story would end happily ever after
reunited together forever at the gentle
barn but eight months later my staff
came to me at the end of a long day and
they said that they were worried about
karma because her udders were swollen
does she have an infection I asked no we
think she’s about to have another baby
and I said but that’s impossible we just
rescued her with a tiny nursing baby
surely they wouldn’t have impregnated
her again so soon and they said we’ll
just keep an eye out well we have a
ritual at the general barn till last 20
years where before we go to bed we check
on the animals and make sure that
they’re okay so that night I tucked the
piggies into bed with blankets I counted
the chickens and turkeys to make sure
they were safely on their roosts I’m gay
I gave kisses and cookies to the horses
and when I walked to the cow pasture
karma was at the fence waiting for me
and I went up to her and I said what’s
the matter girl what’s going on and she
turned her body around and there was a
foot sticking out of her so I ran up to
the house as fast as I possibly could
and I said to my husband and children
wake up for having a baby
and we ran down to the cow pasture and
when we got there the 20 cows that we
had at the time were all in a perfect
circle around karma so me and my husband
and children took our place in the
circle and we watched her labor and we
watched her contract and we watched her
push and we watched her give birth and
we watched her clean him up and dry him
off we watched him struggle to stand and
figure out how to walk and learn to
nurse this whole thing took two hours
and not one of us moved when he finally
drank his fill and laid down to sleep
off his birth all twenty cows
simultaneously broke the circle and
formed a single-file line in front of
the baby
and nobody pushed and nobody shoved and
nobody said I’m here first
the matriarch Sande elders took the
front and the submissive younger cows
took the back and once the line was
formed the matriarch in the front went
up to the baby and she licked him and
she welcomed him and she introduced
herself and then she moved off and a
second in line welcomed him and the
third in line introduced herself and the
fourth and the fifth until every cow in
that family welcomed that baby and when
the cows were done me my husband and my
children took our turn meeting the baby
for the first time and then we all sat
down under the moonlight with smiles on
our faces and watched him sleep and we
realized that we were witness to
something very sacred and very special
that the real world doesn’t get to see
because in the real world there is no
family for animals in the real world
animals fall in love and they’re torn
apart in the real world mommies don’t
get to raise their babies babies are
taken away and they scream for each
other
on deaf ears well we named him surprise
and every member of that family took a
turn raising him they all played with
him they all protected him they all
disciplined him every member of that
family raised him and he grew up to be a
fine young man cow and karma was a
little itty-bitty thing but surprise
grew to be 3,000 pounds in over seven
feet tall and by the time he was a year
old he had to lay down and roll upside
down to nurse and it was a little
embarrassing and sometimes I would come
up to her and say karma he’s in college
now you can cut him off but she would
look at me with her sweet wise face and
she would say he’s my last baby I’m
gonna love him as long as I can and she
nursed him for five years well karma was
so little and her sons were so big they
developed mobility issues and sadly she
outlived both of them but that same
circle surrounded her when she was
whispering in her son’s ears that she
loved them and it was okay to go and
they stayed by her side and mourned and
grieved with her animals love their
babies just like we do they want to have
families and community and friends just
like we do and they celebrate life and
they mourn loss just like we do animals
and the people that love them have
always been my circle who’s in your
have always heard my cries who hears
yours and I have dedicated my life to
hearing and answering the cries around
me whose cries do you answer I’m not
suggesting that you all go home tonight
and start bringing home cows although if
you did you’d really like it but I am
suggesting that we are far more powerful
as individuals than we know we are and
every single day when we’re shopping and
we’re spending money and we’re going
places we are voting with our dollars to
either support companies that harm and
cause suffering to animals that destroy
this planet and make our bodies ill or
we’re voting for companies and products
that love animals and keep them safe
that have reverence for Mother Earth and
the environment and that heal and
nourish our bodies and when we create
families of our own we are molding and
forming the next generation to listen
instead of squishing bugs we can teach
our children to take them safely outside
instead of chasing birds at the park we
can teach them to sit beside us and
admire their beauty and instead of
picking flowers we can teach our
children to cherish their life because
the cries we answer today can change the world
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