ISLAND LIVING Whidbey
Saturday, July 14 , 2012 • The Whidbey News-Times
Goats make great teachers FAITHFUL LIVING By Joan Bay Klope
I’ve named them Butch and Sundance, a nod to their comradeship and propensity for getting into trouble. They are nubian goats, twin brothers, and delightful members of my family. To be honest, I never imagined owning goats when I was a child and thought about the future. Then again, I never imagined living on an island in the Pacific Northwest, being gifted with three children, or raising them on five acres. Isn’t this the great adventure of life? If we look for ways to live creatively, stay open to new adventures and don’t allow fear to hold us back, we can discover and embrace a life previously unimagined. I’m especially fond of Butch and Sundance because they are kind and goofy. While females in the breed are known to produce fine milk, these boys excel at eating and do a marvelous job of keeping the forest at bay. In years past I have watched my husband machete his way through the brush each spring and summer. If he didn’t, our living space out in the yard shrank at a dramatic rate. No longer is this a worry. Each day when I open the gate to their run, they bound out with enthusiasm. Prickly bushes? Spiky berries? No worries. The first time I saw them they were just weeks old. So darling did I find them I knelt down, stroked their pendulous ears and encircled my arms around both at once to offer a hug and kiss. The breeder was rather horrified. “You’re kissing those goats!” he gasped. I still do. It’s a ritual. I approach them, give them a quick little peck, then hurry ahead as I can be run over if I’m not fleet of foot. That’s because they are eager and energetic. But they are also kind and simply burst with enthusiasm for the impending feeding fest. I’ve learned to quicken my pace and can only imagine what it looks like as I skip around our property with them in tow. I rather like the image. I long to skip through each season of life. They are also strong and can’t bridle the longing to taste everything on the other side of the fence. In their minds, it’s always greener. I watch them respond to the call with abandon and if tethered, they wind themselves up before hollering at me for rescue. As you can surmise, they are my teachers. Think carefully where you are going. Aim for being systematic. Find the value in your space and be aware that plowing ahead because things always look better just out of reach can entangle your life and the lives of those who care about you. The best lesson they teach involves devotion and connectedness. These boys are a band of brothers like no other. They cry if they can’t see each other and wouldn’t for one moment consider playing the solo act and running off. They share their food without argument and lay next to each other to chew their cud because there is comfort in being close. What teachers! What lessons!
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Page A13
Ranch rounds up fun for needy kids By REBECCA OLSON Staff reporter
It was a scene out of the Wild West: pistols flashing and cowboy boots stomping, country music and horses to ride. With all the smiles lighting up the M-Bar-C Ranch, it was hard to see that the children didn’t often get the opportunity to just be kids. That’s the gift that the M-Bar-C Ranch in Freeland strives to offer. “We give children a day of western fun. It’s not therapeutic riding,” said Dale Kerslake, M-Bar-C Ranch volunteer and program coordinator. “We’re really about a place for kids facing serious challenges to come be a kid for a day and just be kids.” The ranch is operated by the Forgotten Children’s Fund, a Seattle based children’s charity. It sits on 52 green acres, offering plenty of room for the 20 horses --- which include a couple of miniature horses --- and a replica of a Wild West town the perfect size for young imaginations. Out of 68 days of operation during the summer, Kerslake said the ranch will be hosting groups for at least 50 of those days. Along with special needs kids, the ranch also holds horse camps for youth and adults. The nonprofit is entirely volunteer run, with a number of adult volunteers and the help of 18 youth interns from all three school districts who learn how to handle horses while donating their time. The horses are donated, too, and are specially trained professionals. “They know what they need to do,” Kerslake said, adding that they’re “bomb proof.” The most frequent visitors to the ranch are special needs kids, many of which are very animated. Kerslake came to the ranch
Rebecca Olson / Whidbey News-Times
Jessie Tappan, a youth from a Seattle Parks and Recreation program called Outdoors for All, gazes at Patty, the ranch’s draft horse, while going for a ride dressed as a cowgirl princess. in 2008 to participate in a horse camp and get back into riding. Despite living on the island for 12 years before that, she’d never heard of the ranch. When she realized the ranch’s goal of helping special needs children, she got involved at the ranch because she wanted to see these children be happy. “You see these smiles,” she said, mentioning burn victims and children who suffered from domestic violence as other kids the ranch has positively affected. The ranch also hosts parent-toparent support groups, which are important because the whole family comes “to just enjoy the ranch, ride the horses and have a picnic lunch,” Kerslake said. Often, the focus is on the special needs child in a family, but these groups bring the entire family together. “Our goal is to give them the best day ever. To see them laughing and running around
Rebecca Olson / Whidbey News-Times
A trio of youngsters from a Seattle Parks and Recreation camp morph into cowboys during playtime at the M-Bar-C Ranch.
and forget the serious problems they’re facing,” Kerslake said. Wednesday, a group of about 15 special needs children and teens and their chaperones from a Seattle Parks and Recreation camp showed up at the ranch to the welcoming smiles of youth interns and ranch volunteers. From their hugs for volunteers they recognized and excitement at meeting the dog, it looked like it could become their best day ever. Kerslake greeted the guests with a “Howdy!” and led them to the flag pole to be sworn in as honorary cowboys and girls. Today is “a chance to roam free and follow the cowboy way. Welcome to the M-Bar-C Ranch. Yeehaw!” Kerslake finished. The excitement was tangible as the children raced to change into cowboy garb. They entered the barn as ordinary children and emerged as cowboys and cowgirls, plastic guns strapped to their hips and cowboy boots stomping the ground. The group also included some cowgirl princesses wearing colorful dresses. Even the chaperones donned handkerchiefs. Then it was horse riding time. Many of the kids had never ridden horses before, while some had experience. A trio of ranch volunteers and interns surrounded each horse as a guest climbed on from a raised platform. Training the horses to allow riders to climb on at that height is difficult because horses believe anything above
them is a predator, but those horses were the very picture of patience. With encouragement from the volunteers, the kids adjusted to their horses and began to smile as each horse was led around the yard. Most even stopped to pet Patty, a huge draft horse used to pull wagons. After a few rides each, the children converged on the Wild West town, bounding through Doc’s Barbershop, a bank and even a jail with a cell. Amid shouts and laughter, the town transformed into a western battle of epic proportions. Plastic pistols were drawn in standoffs --- and a few swords, too. The cowboys cleaned up the town, tossing the bad guys in jail just in time for the lunch bell and a meal of hotdogs, an old West classic. “The kids are having so much fun,” Kerslake said as she prepared for lunch. After lunch, the kids planned to make necklaces, keychains and do other crafts, “and just let them run around and expend all that energy,” Kerslake added. Memories from the day on the ranch were the kind of memories that could raise a child’s spirits and keep a smile on his or her face for a long time to come. Kerslake pointed out the ranch’s motto, adding how important its meaning is for the ranch: “The best thing for the inside of a kid is the outside of a horse.”