Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans, animals, and the environment.
It was a great lesson for me to realize that even though I love animals, and have dedicated my whole life to them, I can still have boundaries, protect my own home, and be gentle at the same time.
Gentle Barn's Tennessee Sanctuary
Having a sanctuary is amazing; hearing the animals’ soft noises as they
eat and rest, smelling the earthy grass and fur aroma from the barnyard, and
of course, getting to spend time with all these mystical creatures is pure
magic. Living unencumbered by close neighbors, being surrounded by trees,
barns, and mountains, and just having so much space is enchanting. But with
barn life comes little critters who want to move into the house too.
A few years ago I saw our first rat in the house. She was so adorable with
her Mickey Mouse ears, little pink nose, and long whiskers. I went to the
cupboard and got her something to eat and watched as she held the nuts in
her little hands and nibbled it until it was gone. What harm could come from
feeding just one mouse? Well, this one little mouse invited her friends and
they invited their friends until months later our house was overrun with
little rodents. The cuteness soon wore off when the house smelled of urine,
the couches had holes in it, and they chewed the wires from the dishwasher
and flooded the kitchen!
Being gentle and kind to animals is something I have committed to since I
was very young, helping animals when they were lost or hurt, adopting a
vegetarian diet when I was eleven, and going vegan 20 years ago. So there
was no way I was going to harm these little guests, but how do I protect my
home and family, while at the same time not harm them? We made some calls
and did some research and all we came up with were companies wanting to
poison the mice or trap them in cruel ways. Every time I came up
empty-handed, I insisted that there had to be a loving alternative. I could
not possibly be the first one to have this problem and cannot be the only
one who feels this way about animals. So I kept searching, refusing to admit
defeat. In the meantime, the rats had taken over my house and I was
convinced that any day now we would wake up to find our bags packed,
escorted out of the house, as they took it over completely and threw us out.
At long last, I found the solution I had been looking for, a company who
removed wild animals and insects from houses humanely and environmentally
safe, wow! They came to take a look and hashed out a plan to seal up the
openings around the house that was letting the mice inside, trapping the
rats and mice humanely, and then relocating them to a place in the wild far
away from houses with a water source. It took several months, but we finally
had our house back, the smell was gone, the destruction was repaired, and
the mice and rats were safe. It was a great lesson for me to realize that
even though I love animals, and have dedicated my whole life to them, I can
still have boundaries, protect my own home, and be gentle at the same time.
Sometimes we learn lessons right away, and other times we need to learn
things a few more times before we really get it. When we moved our Tennessee
location to Nashville there were no rodents in the barn. But the former
owners of the property didn’t have animals in the barn for years prior to us
moving in. Once we moved in we worked very hard to put in insulation in the
barn to make it warm for winter. That wonderful insulation raised the
temperature of the barn by twenty degrees and allowed the animals to enjoy
winter comfortably. But the insulation also allowed rats and mice to live
between the insulation and the roof. By spring we realized that we had many
visitors lodging in the barn who were now joining the animals for meals. At
first it was adorable to watch them darting around, pocking their heads out
of spaces in the wall, and sharing food with our chickens and goats. One
time I sat quietly in the stall with the goats while they ate their evening
grain and watched tiny mice poking their cartoon heads out of the walls
hoping to be invited to dinner. I softly tossed a blueberry over to one, and
he picked the blueberry up with both his little pink hands, and had a picnic
with us. I fell in love with him! But soon the invasion became way too much.
Our animals were competing with the mice to eat, and the barn started to
smell bad. We had to keep our place sanitary for our animals, staff,
volunteers and guests.
Our first solution was to pull out all of the insolation from the barn,
thinking that without their accommodations they would leave. But they just
moved into the walls. Then we started feeding the animals out in the
pastures and yards so there would be no food in the barn, but they still
wouldn’t vacate and instead only became more desperate. I was in agony! I
had fallen in love with these tiny sweet faces and they seemed so happy in
the barn. I wished so desperately that we could find a way to cohabitate.
Couldn’t we just feed them and live happily ever after?! But there were so
many, and they were destroying the barn. I couldn’t sleep at night. When I
did dose off, I had nightmares, tossing and turning. I didn’t want to hurt
them. I didn’t want to betray them. But I had to protect our Gentle Barn.
After many weeks of anxiety, I found the answers with the help of my husband
and spiritual friends who love animals as much as I do. They helped me see
that rats and mice are wild animals, not domesticate. They are very smart
and resourceful and in the wild do very well to find food, shelter, and can
live their life free. As long as we relocate them gently and find a place in
the woods with a water source, they will be quite happy. Knowing our little
guests would be safe and content was all I needed to move forward.
We started calling around to find a company who would humanely remove the
rats from the barn. We found many companies who wanted to exterminate them,
but we refused to give up and finally found a company who was licensed to
remove them humanely. The company set up a trapping system and were able to
remove the rats without harm and set them free into a beautiful forest with
a water source, far away from any dwellings or roads. The same company
fumigated the barn with a natural fog that removed all the smell. The barn
is now fresh, clean, and free of little guests. Our animals can eat
peacefully with no competition. And our little friends are now climbing
trees, digging holes, drinking from the pond, and living as wild animals
should.
Being gentle in every situation is difficult and costly. It would have been
much faster, easier, and cheaper to just kill the rats. But the price of
laying down each night to sleep knowing no one was hurt or killed for me to
live is priceless! Being vegan is not just about what foods I eat or don’t.
Being vegan means being gentle and thoughtful in every single situation. It
means being kind to people even if I don’t agree with them or understand
them. It means eating gently even if I have to pay more or travel further.
And it means doing the right thing even when it’s inconvenient. My identity
does not come from the fact that I am female, or a mom, a wife, or the
Founder Of The Gentle Barn. It doesn’t come from the past, or what I have
accomplished. My identity, self-worth, and value come from these little but
life affirming decisions that we all make every day. How we handle things,
how we talk to people, how we handle conflict, how we treat all living
beings defines who we are as individuals and as a society. I long for the
day that gentleness is our core value, that ethics is our most prized
possession, and empathy is what we pass on to our children. One day...
Return to Articles Reflecting a Vegan Lifestyle