Hope Springs Farm

10/28/2024

We wanted to send out a huge thank you to all that came out to our Fall Fest! Because of your incredible generosity, we were able to raise $2,000 for Omega Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation Center Inc! Since it was so popular, we plan to bring it back again next year with more activities!

08/09/2024

Loosing a friend is never easy, but especially hard when they are as sweet, gentle and kind as Rollo. He and his owner Amanda, came to us over thirteen years ago and have been part of our "family" ever since.

When we take in boarders, they become part of us and form a special bond. When we saw that at 32yo, he was beginning to struggle with weight, stability and eating, we knew it was time. It's never easy, but I will take a planned "peaceful" exit any day, over one of fear, pain and anxiety.

There is no way that Rollo's presence will go unfelt. His "Eeyore" personality, stubbornness, and very strong opinions on life will be missed sorely. Run on good horse and Godspeed until we meet again.

05/02/2024

They arrived this past weekend!

The swallows are coming back. They weigh about 20 grams, but they covered more than 5000 km during the flight. They passed through the Sahara desert. They flew over the Mediterranean without having a break. They fought the rain and wind, and the scorching sun. They are extraordinary little beings. . And now they will live under the roofs of our homes and bear the offspring. Embrace their presence. Be kind to them. Respect them. One swallow can eat up to 850 flies and mosquitoes a day. One pair can kill about 1,700 flies and mosquitoes a day. There is no more effective and ecological insecticide ... Make them feel welcome here

03/11/2024

Just another day teaching!

01/11/2024

“Farm work doesn’t make you stronger. It doesn’t make you anything. It reveals you.

There’s gym strong and then there’s farm strong. They’re mutually exclusive.

The toughest women you’ll ever meet spend their days on a farm.

There are more uses for twine than you can possibly imagine. You can tie up a hole in a slow feeder, fashion a tail strap for a horse’s blanket, mend a broken fence and use it as a belt.

“Well that certainly didn’t go as planned,” is one thing you’ll say quite a bit.

Control is a mere illusion. The thought that you have any, at any given time, is utterly false.

Sometimes sleep is a luxury. So are lunch and dinner. And brushing your hair.

If you’ve never felt your obliques contract, then you’ve never tried stopping an overly full wheelbarrow of horse manure from tipping over sideways. Trust me, you’ll find muscles that you never knew existed on the human skeleton to prevent this from happening.

When one of the animals is ill, you’ll go to heroic lengths to minimize their discomfort.
When you lose one of them, even though you know that day is inevitable, you still feel sadness, angst and emotional pain from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. And it’s a heaviness that lingers even though you must regroup and press on.

You’ll cry a lot. But you’ll never live more fully. You’ll remain present no matter what because you must. There is no other option.

You’ll ask for so many miracles and hold out hope until the very last.

You will, at least once, face-plant in the manure pile.

You’ll find yourself saying things like, “we have maybe twenty minutes of daylight left to git ‘er done” whilst gazing up at a nonspecific place in the sky.

You’ll become weirdly obsessive about the weather.

You’ll go out in public wearing filthy clothes and smelling of dirt, sweat and p**p. People will look at you sideways and krinkle their noses but you won’t care.

Your entire day can derail within ten seconds of the rising sun.

You can wash your coveralls. They won’t look any cleaner, but they will smell much nicer.

Farm work is difficult in its simplicity.

You’ll always notice just how beautiful sunrises and sunsets really are.

Should you ever have the opportunity to work on a farm, take the chance! You will never do anything more satisfying in your entire life.

Well, that about sums it up, folks!” - unknown author

So true. All of it.
Cheers, Christina - Handley Acres Metal Creations

12/25/2023

Merry Christmas from our farm family ~

12/17/2023