"So...what do you do?"

^ This is a question I've been getting a lot lately from family and friends who are interested in what exactly it is that I've been doing during my internship! My typical response is "A lot!" partially because I'm too exhausted to go into detail and also because it's true!

As a Shelter Projects intern at Farm Sanctuary, every day you are either assigned to Projects, Hospital Extra, Cleaning, or Checks. Some nights you are also on Sheds and/or Security.

The majority of our days are Projects. So let me break it down for you!

Projects starts at 7 AM, and there are typically two of us on. I would freak out and never get everything done if I was by myself which has happened to people before!

From 7 AM to 12 PM we check our voicemail at the hospital, start laundry, cook beans, defrost vegetables, feed the hospital cats, feed the birds in the hospital kitchen area and exam room, feed the animals in the hospital pens (which right now consist of turkeys, chickens, goats, and ducks), feed the Vegan House cellar cats, make up feed for the sheep and cattle, clean out the cages for the birds in the hospital and replace with fresh towels and kennel pads, sweep floors, switch out blankets for the goats, clean various surfaces and bowls, pick up food or continue feeding for free fed animals, put peanut butter on a lot of bread for all the pigs who get their medicine in it, go through medical kits and organize them, and clean syringes. Also, throughout the whole day we check/change feed and water bowls in the hospital area.

In that same time frame, we have a lot of outdoor tasks as well: collecting eggs on the main farm (I explained our use for the eggs in a previous post), sunscreening the pigs’ ears and bellies, checking the pigs’ mud puddles and refiling if needed, feeding the squirrels, giving treats to 4 groups of bunnies, and cleaning bowls in the sheep, goat, and cattle barns.

Then, back at the hospital, we continue laundry (this is really an all-day thing!), clean, dry, and put away dishes, clean sinks, dust the exam room, scoop litter boxes, straighten up for general upkeep, check dog and cat beds for cleaning, and (if there’s time) start tasks on the Projects Board and/or Daily Cleaning Project.

Right before lunch we clean more, check food/water for the animals and change where needed, and turn off/put away hoses for mud puddles.

Then lunch time! (Which is sometimes actually quick snack/nap time.)

Projects continue from 2 PM to 5 PM. We move feed from different barns/tack areas/silos to new locations, collect garbage and bring it to the dumpster, bring recycling to the Admin building, have another bird feeding, continue laundry/cleaning, boil and mash eggs, sweep, mop, and dust upstairs in the hospital including offices, break room, bathroom, and main area, pick up/compost food in the kitchen, take out dirty kennel pads, give new/top off water, clean final dishes and syringes and put away, wipe down counters and stove, sweep, mop, and dust the entire downstairs area and stairs, check the sheep barn for straggling bowls/buckets needing cleaning, and feed the VH cellar cats again.

To say it is a long and tiring day would be an extreme understatement. The day is even longer and more exhausting when you’re also on Sheds and Security.

I recently said that closing sheds is like tucking the animals in at night and the other interns laughed at me...because that makes it seem a lot more cute and peaceful than it is!!! If you’re on Sheds Closing duty, you start at about 7:40 PM. You have to get all the different birds inside, count them to make sure everyone is accounted for, close and secure doors, change fans/windows depending on the weather, turn off lights, hook latches, etc. You have to do this at Vegan House, Healthcare Hospital, Grey Shed, Red Roo Shed, Jersey Shed, R&R Barn, and R&R Kitchen. This can take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour depending on how cooperative the animals are, if you can convince another intern to go with you and help, the weather, etc. 

When you’re on Sheds, you’re typically also on Security, which means you keep your radio on you until 9:30 PM and if anyone needs any help they call you to come down. 

Sometimes I end up laughing so hard I cry from how ridiculous Sheds can go...For example, the other night I went with Stephanie to close sheds and we literally spent 20 minutes just trying to get one group of chickens inside. It's this moment of "It's a Friday night and I'm spending it chasing chickens. What is my life?" And there is always that one little stinker that you can just NOT herd or catch. We're so exhausted by 7:40 that it just becomes hysterical. 

There are also a couple groups of geese and ducks that are just plain crazy. I have a theory that before we come in, they start planning what they are going to do to us. They literally work as a team to gang up on you...For example, one with chase you into a corner and the other will grab your boot, pants, shirt, skin, whatever he can and flap and bite and hold on as tight as possible and it's another moment of "It's a Friday night and I'm dragging a duck around a barn who won't let go of my boot and I have another duck attached to my butt." As scary as it can be, I still love them all. Any bumps, bruises, and cuts I've gotten from animals, gates, doors, etc. while I've been here have been well worth it. 

Checks I talked about earlier. You go around with Susie (awesome!) and whoever is on as a caregiver for the day and do health checks for certain animals. I've only been on it once and we did sheep and cows and I really hope to be on again! Checks is 8 to 5 or sometimes to 4:30.

Hospital Extra is different every day, depending on what needs to get done. There is a binder that says what you should be doing depending on the day of the week, but I was on Hosp. Extra on Thursday and there is no Thursday in the book...so I pretty much just helped with Projects and cleaned. 7 to 5 like Projects.

It's funny that there's a duty called "Cleaning" when really all of the tasks involve some sort of cleaning...I haven't been on Cleaning yet (even saying that sounds silly!) but I guess you just help out the paid cleaners with mucking, raking, putting new hay down, etc. in all of the different barns and pens. Cleaning is 7-3 but with a shorter lunch.

So there you have it! Of course, there are always different and new things that happen every day that change the schedule a bit, but those are the things that have to get done every day no matter what. :)