“For those of you who have spent any time volunteering at our Liberty Church Drive-Thru location, you have probably spent some of that time sorting through produce and have been directed to put food that was too far past its prime into boxes for the farmer. He goes by several different names, though “the pig farmer” is what is used most often. It is a bit of a misnomer, for while he does have a few special types of pigs on his farm, they are a small percentage of the animals that benefit from the produce and other food that we save for them. Carla and I, along with our families, made a trip out to Clanton a few weeks ago to visit our farmer friend, Mark, at his place, Serenity Animal Farm, where he introduced us to all of his animal friends who gratefully partake of our discarded food. I wanted to share a bit of what we learned, so the next time you are sorting through lettuce and onions and strawberries, you can better envision those you are serving in addition to those people that come through our lines at the drive thru.
Firstly, let me introduce you to Mark. Mark once had a friend who had some goats who needed a place to live. He knew Mark had some land and asked if he could take them. He said yes. It was the first of many yeses, and over the last several years his farm has become the largest animal rescue of exotic animals in the state of Alabama and home for around 200 animals. Mark knows them each by name. After working his “regular” job, Mark will swing by Liberty and often the Grace Klein office and pick up our scraps before heading home to feed the animals.
When we arrived, we learned Mark had already prepared the way for us to make our way through the farm by getting the buckets of food ready at each stop. It is always sad to me when food is bad and we can’t fill boxes with it, but it makes me happy knowing it isn’t going in the trash. Our new friends were more than happy to receive it!
Our first introduction, besides Mark’s very friendly farm dogs, was to one of the newer members of the farm, a baby goat named Charmaine. Born just a few weeks before our visit, she was fun to cuddle, but we didn’t have her too long before she was calling for her mama. We also got some snuggles with Parsley, the Holland Lop Rabbit. Another newer member of the farm is Cassidy, the red kangaroo, who enjoyed some bread for snack before getting his bottle.
Some of the older members of the farm enjoyed their vegetables. Annabell and Jupiter are Sulcata tortoises and are about 30 years old. Chris, the biggest one, is 85. They aren’t fans of these cold nights, even in their heated building, so they have spent some time in Mark’s spare room lately.
The ostrich loves lettuce and is a fast eater. Lester and Doug were brave, and hand fed the emus. Cedric, the Dromedary camel, will quickly goggle up apples and lemons and pears. He doesn’t spit, but he slobbers quite a lot when he is excited. We fed Annabel, the Scottish Highland cow, Emmett, the pot-bellied pig and Dennis, the Nigerian Dwarf Goat.
We also met the llamas, Winnie the Coati, who can carry an egg against her cheek with one tiny hand while she climbs back to her bed, and so many more happy animals who enjoy the food we cannot use. Mark has said of all that we send, he can find someone who will eat it. For more pictures and some hilarious animal adventures you can find Mark’s Facebook page—Serenity Animal Farms. Next time you get tasked with sorting food, think of all these happy faces!” – Wendy Williams