When planning a girls weekend we usually turn to Atlantic City, NYC, or some other destination where we can let lose and go crazy. This year though, with my bestie by my side, we decided to give back and help.

We ended up at the beautiful Catskill Animal Sanctuary which is home to hundreds of rescued farm animals. Those lucky enough to have escaped the short tortured lives in factory farms but some not lucky enough to have escaped the array of medical issues caused by the industry. I discovered CAS almost a year ago and have been obsessed with the place since. I typically will visit, take a tour, walk through seeing the animals but this time we were going to volunteer and help. We booked a night at the Homestead, their B&B on the property, and headed up. We spent the day cleaning out the bird houses. We took out the old bedding and put in new. We did this 8 times, loading and unloading the truck with new and old hay- and we laughed the whole time. Michael, the rescued turkey, followed us the entire day keeping us company. When we had to move the truck I would run far far away from the truck and call his name and Michael would come running over. At only a few months old his body is already growing too fast and heavy for him, but he’s managing. 
We got to visit with Bruce the duck who will peck at your feet over and over until you just pick him up. He’s the most loving duck I’ve ever met. Our final chores of the day included distracting the 11 piglets with apples so their feed could be delivered and topping off water for the horses for the night. I spent some time with Buddy, the blind horse with a heart of gold and then visited with a horse named Arabell that we currently sponsor. All in all our day was filled with love, generosity, laughs, and purity. 
We got back to the Homestead, made some tea, showered and headed to dinner. We went to The Garden Cafe in Woodstock based off of recommendations and were not disappointed! We started with some soups and a cheese plate of cashew Brie and fruits. I would eat that daily if I could! Then we had a vegetable lasagna with cashew ricotta and some spaghetti and un-meatballs. We took our desert to go and came back to Homestead for PJs and some board games. After some great laughs we climbed into bed anxiously awaiting our vegan breakfast being served in the morning. 
Saturday we are off to NYC but we are leaving CAS with so much love in our hearts and a plan to return to volunteer again. 

#CAS #CatskillAnimalSanctuary #Vegan #FriendsnotFood