Fall 2015

Fall Festival - October 4th

Amberations Fall Festival grows in popularity every year. We offer a full afternoon of some of the finest local musicians along with delicious food, raffles, games, face painting, animals, and more.

Please plan on coming to show your support for Amberations.

The menu includes our own pumpkin chili, spanikopita, apple crisp, pumpkin ice cream, hot dogs, as well as an assortment of sweets (including the best gluten-free chocolate chip cookies we have ever tasted). Coffee, cider and other beverages will also be available.

There are games for young and old, crafts, our fifty acre Treasure Hunt and countless opportunities to connect with nature on our beautiful grounds. Amberations' animals will be roaming and anxiously awaiting visitors.

Come early and plan on spending the day. At 5:45 the bands stop and our basket of ducks will allow guests to participate in the most up close and personal duck race ever.

Sunday - October 4th from 1-6pm (rain or shine).

We Are Thankful For…Claudene and Mikala

I recently had the opportunity to interview two of our newest volunteers at work at the Amberations barn on a pleasant summer morning. Claudene and Mikala are a mother and daughter team from Auburn. They started doing feedings at the barn in June and are new to this area.

Tell me a little about yourself:

Mikala: “I’m a senior at Auburn High School and started working at D&R at the end of May. I like working with animals.” Mikala wants to be an accountant and incorporate these skills with animal care and management.

Claudene: “I’m a bank teller and love my job. I was a stay at home mom, home schooled my kids for 12 years. I loved being with my kids when I home taught, now I’m working with Mikala at the barn.” Claudene has a degree in education and returned to the work force less than a year ago. She grew up on a farm in Alabama with guinea fowl, a horse and goats.

How did you become interested in volunteering at Amberations?

Claudene: “From our minister, Lois at Amber Congregational Church. I walked over with her to meet the animals, then started bringing carrots to them”. She later met Gloria and animal care volunteers, Vicky, Diana & Becky. Claudene and her family joined us to help at our June work day.

Mikala: “I read the sign at the barn asking for volunteers and contacted Diana.” Claudene and Mikala started as volunteers at the barn after our work day.

What do you enjoy most about Amberations’ animals?

Mikala: “Seeing and hanging out with the animals - like we’re family. They’re good listeners.”

Claudene: “I can visit anytime and don’t feel like I’m working when I’m here.”

Is there a story you'd like to share about volunteering at Amberations?

Claudene: “Joe kicks the door if you don’t get his food fast enough. The animals didn’t get too close in the beginning, then came around with carrots and apples”. Claudene got to know Joe and Billie by feeding them treats and brushing them through the back door window. She gives Joe hugs and pats and loves being around him - the feeling is mutual.

Mikala: “The animals are fun just to hang out with. I took Joe for a walk and he kept trying to eat all the brown eyed susans”. Joe does love flowers.

Thanks Claudene & Mikala for all you do!!

Jim Frary, Donkey Whisperer

by Diana Green

His ears perk up when he hears his truck. His eyes light up when he sees him. Joe’s new friend is Jim Frary, who has become a Donkey Whisperer.

Back in May Amberations faced a crisis. It looked like we were going to have to find another home for Joe and the animals. Joe was in a sorry state. He had just had most of his right front hoof removed because of white line disease and his pasture and half his stable were wet — not good for preventing hoof disease. Gloria, the mainstay of Joe’s existence, could not keep up with the demands of his care. Jim Frary stepped in and saved the day!

We all know Joe is a good donkey, but, like all donkeys, he can be stubborn and he isn’t fond of people messing with his hooves. It especially was difficult for him to stand on his recently radically trimmed hoof while his other hoof was being cleaned, but to prevent further infections Joe’s hooves needed to be cleaned daily. Jim spent a lot of time with Joe, getting to know him, understanding his quirks, combing him, bonding, asking others for tips of how to handle him, cleaning his hooves. After a few weeks we saw an amazing transformation. Everybody who visited said Joe was looking handsome and well-cared for. Jim was walking Joe every day and sometimes Joe, feeling frisky and escaping through an opening, would run around the front yards with enthusiasm. But he would always come to Jim.

Jim Frary always wanted to have a farm and animals. Joe has always wanted more attention. The two have a special connection. Come watch Jim clean Joe’s hooves at our Fall Festival and tell you what he has learned about donkeys.

Guinea Fowl

Amberations will be selling Keets (chicks) at the Fall Festival.

Guinea Fowl free-range and will naturally roost in trees. They are tick-eating machines and fun to watch. $3.50 each.

ASSist Amberations

Amberations will soon launch its most ambitious capital campaign to date.

Check our web site and Facebook for further details about this exciting opportunity to help Amberations fulfill its mission.

Summer Wellness Sessions

On four consecutive Sundays in July Amberations offered a series of Wellness Sessions.

These fun and informative presentations were made even more enjoyable thanks to a grant from SKARTS — Skaneateles Area Arts Council. SKARTS funded local musicians including Sean King, Harvey Nusbaum, Lana Stafford and Zoe & Alison Mullan-Stout who complemented our wellness experts in what proved to be relaxing, educational and entertaining evenings.

Visitors learned about Reiki, Chiropractic, NAET and Essential Oils in an intimate setting where they could comfortably explore the topics.

We would like to thank SKARTS for making this first ever series such a success as well as Lisa Jeske, Chris Stahl, Vanessa Smydra, Maureen Quigley and Johnna Wiley for sharing their insight and knowledge. If you missed any of our workshops and would like to learn more feel free to contact our wellness experts.

A Chat with Thomas and Vicky

Tell me a little about yourselves…how did you become interested in Amberations?

We became interested in Amberations by a wonderful coincidence. We moved to Maryland 4 years ago for a job opportunity. With no friends, no family, and not finding much we enjoyed about the state, we were really struggling to find happiness in Maryland, so we finally decided to pack everything up and move back to our home state of New York.

It was difficult to find a place to live that would allow our two children, Bruno (a corgi lab mix) and Isis (a greyhound), especially since we had yet to find jobs.

We posted an ad explaining our situation to see if anyone would be interested in renting to us short term, but couldn’t seem to make anything work, and then came a phone call from Gloria. She told us about the little yellow house and Amberations. We are animal lovers and spent most of our free time volunteering for a Greyhound organization with Isis so it seemed like a perfect fit. Amberations was the first, and very important, part of everything falling into place for us during our journey of moving back home.

What do you enjoy most about taking care of the animals?

Each of the animals have their own personality and they make us smile and laugh every time we enter the barn. We’ve seen Boo leap into the air and act silly and wild. Katie’s pretty shy, but a sweetheart. Billie is always funny with how excited he gets when he finally realizes it’s time to eat, and his constant attempts to escape the barn. Big Joe always gives us a mouthful of sass so that we will hurry up and get his food and the cats are always weaving through our legs and looking for attention. They give us something else
to look forward to that always puts us in a good mood, even on a bad day.

Is there a story about the animals you'd like to share?

Vicky was still in Maryland completing work at her job while Thomas moved back to New York first with the dogs. We were starting over completely but made it through so many stressful situations together and are so grateful that things fell into place like they did. Thomas got a new job immediately, but our living situation was not good for the first week he was back. Then we remembered the call from Gloria and about Amberations-luckily the house was still available.

Thomas shared the story with Vicky about the first time he met the animals and mentioned the cat named Happy. After years of being unhappy in Maryland, Vicky responded “I think that’s a sign. All we wanted was to find happiness.”

There are plenty of little stories about the animals. While helping build a fence around the barn for the animals, Happy decided he would be spending the day on Vicky’s shoulder, demanding attention, regardless of the fact that there was work to be done.

There was also the day that Big Joe decided he wanted to go on a walk through the neighborhood, and busted through the barn gate while Vicky was feeding them, only for her to have to chase after him and lure him back with food. The animals’ silly antics always
make us happy and we love sharing our stories about Amberations with others.

Summer Odyssey 2015

We couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of kids! That’s what made “Summer Odyssey 2015” - the first summer camp at Amberations- such a super successful experience. Our pilot program kicked off this year with a small but lively group of campers, ranging from 4th to 7th grade. They came with a variety of abilities, talents, personalities and interests. It was an all-inclusive group.

Our first day focused on games, boat-building, and fort-building activities. Pictures of the awesome fort structure can be found at our website and were also featured in an article in the Skaneateles Journal.

We also offered a music day, where special guest Sean King played songs and led a sing-along. Campers brought their own instruments and participated in a “jam session.” Later we hiked back to the barn to create handmade instruments (rain sticks) for campers to take with them.

From sailing handcrafted boats down the stream to creating terrariums, every day featured special events and every day was marked by fond memories for campers and counselors.

Some features that made this camp experience unique include:

• Day camp outdoors 10am-4pm
• Fields to hike, streams to explore, animals to visit
• Arts and crafts including boatbuilding, making instruments
• Expert certified staff with a great staff to camper ratio
• Campers participate in selecting activities

Join us next year for a wonderful summer camp experience!