Heartstone Veganic Ecosanctuary

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Heartstone Veganic Ecosanctuary

PLEASE HELP SAVE HEARTSTONE! 🐮

Vegan organic sanctuary in Ireland, caring mainly for cows, horses, cats & dogs, and v-wilding currently 39 acres. Nonviolence.

Animal rights, no welfarism. No rescue industry, just sanctuary. Registered charity no 20206558. ☙ A place where animal rights are not a lip service ❧

Registered charity in the Republic of Ireland, RCN 20206558

Welcome to Heartstone Veganic Sanctuary, a humble attempt to help creating the peaceful and compassionate more-than-human world our hearts know is possible. 🌻

Heartstone is the first veg

an organic sanctuary in Ireland, possibly the world - but hopefully not for very much longer! 🌱

Veganic means, for me, that not only everything that is grown on the farm is/was grown according to vegan organic (also called stockfree organic) standards, but also, that all food, treats and other products for the animals and for me - including fabrics, supplements, herbal remedies, care products and so on - are vegan and organic, veganic wherever possible - and there’s only very few exceptions I have to make due to unavailability (like wood shavings, and natural but non-organic worming), but everything is always natural, chemical-free, and where available, also seasonal and local or fair trade. 🕊️

Fruit, veg, nuts and herbs at Heartstone have always been grown with no-dig methods, an emphasis on perennials, and along permaculture principles and the concept of forest gardening while there was still time to do that. 🌿

In terms of the bigger of our all food system, a truly sustainable food system would consist of veganic no-dig agroforestry and polycultures focusing on perennial plants, integrated with vegan rewilding and other forms of ecosystem restoration. Only in this way we have a chance to become resilient enough to survive climate collapse and biodiversity breakdown, and all that might come with them - and to not add to those crises more than absolutely unavoidable. In order to try and further this truly sustainable future that science agrees upon, Heartstone is also a friend and collaborator of Irish vegan rewilding project Dunsany Nature Reserve and a founding member of its V-Wilding Network. (An interesting read laying out a holistic model of a peaceful and mutually supportive co-existence with nature (author not known to me):
Can we combine sanctuaries / protected spaces, and veganic land 'use' and merge them into new integrative comprehensive models? https://www.simorgh.de/objects/new-vegan-mergers/)

For more info about vegan organic growing, I recommend visiting http://veganorganic.net. You can find Dunsany Nature Reserve and the V-Wilding Network on Facebook and Instagram. How to help/support us:
Helping hands on a regular basis and live-in volunteers would be very much appreciated as well, with a separate one-room building being available, which, though very basic, contains all necessary facilities. Just drop me a message if you’re interested to support me physically. 👨‍🌾👩‍🌾

If you wish to support us financially towards feed, bedding, vet bills, farrier, supplements, care and maintenance costs, please contact me via private message or email for banking details. Please note: Heartstone is not a registered charity yet, and so cannot accept donations. But we are able to receive gifts of friends and supporters. 🍃

In case you want to contribute directly towards feed and bedding, feel free to ring one of my main suppliers, Pet Stop Ballina (https://www.facebook.com/petstopdiscountwarehouseballina) or Homeland Rathscanlon (https://www.homeland.ie/stores/rathscanlon) and either top up Nía’s account (that’s me), or order some feed for me (they know what I need). Thank you! 💚

☙ Compassion. For the people. For the planet. For the animals. ❧

-`ღ´-

“The moon casts its shadows. What shall you see? Link hands and walk towards the sun.“

01/06/2026

Hi all,

let's finish our quick recap of Heartstone's history.

The best I could do with the money left from my parents' loans and my pre-inheritance, was purchase the farm we now call our home, 50 acres consisting of mostly native woodland, in Cavan's Lakelands area. The house - once a thatched cottage, many decades ago - is still and will remain derelict, power has finally been connected after six months - we had to survive the whole of winter with no light, heating, warm water... and only just about did - but there is still no heating or warm water, no internet, ability to do laundry... you name it.

With any money that got donated since, I got crucial works done - the need for many of which was only created by a man who was supposed to get the place ready for us to move in before we arrived, and instead tore down the little infrastructure that was here to create more work for himself in the long term. A few gates, some concrete and stones, a fenced field for blind Angel and April.

The rest of the gang are still roaming the remainder of the land... no fence to even separate anyone when needed. 😶 And of course, feed and bedding had to be paid, too, and with no undercover storage or actual cow shed the expenses were even higher than usual, and I lost thousands worth of straw, hay, and feed to the weather. Tarpaulin only does so much when it constantly rains and storm after storm batter the place.

Somehow, we did survive the winter. The gang are slowly recovering from the torture of the previous places - long-term followers will remember what the situations described in the previous posts actually meant, for the cows, and myself - but the crazy weather patterns due to climate collapse and the fact there still is no dry and draught-free shed for them don't help.

And, by now we are 6 months overdue the final government deadline, and 12 from the original one - and absolutely nowhere near being able to fund the works required to finally meet the government regulations again.

A have risked and sacrificed absolutely everything to save these cows - and it very much looks like it was for nothing.

But I will have to write another post about that part...

01/06/2026

Hi all,

let's continue with our quick recap of Heartstone's history.

At the end of last year, we - the gang and myself - were evicted from the farm in Co. Meath I was supposed to buy to become compliant again with government regulations regarding cows, and at short notice. As if that wasn't bad enough, the insane situation had caused me, directly and indirectly - through actual loss and a steep decline in donations - to lose about 300k worth of funds that I never had in the first place.

Many of you will be aware that my parents have made funds available to me again and again and again; all the funds spent on the previous farm and the current one were either loans from them, or part of my future inheritance. That probably sounds big, but it is not. They have risked and partially sacrificed their provisions for old age at a time where this is not distant future anymore, and me all money I would ever have had in my life given I have no income and am doing this voluntarily.

Subsequently, I had hardly any money left at the time I had to try and find yet another new and suitable farm, and within a matter of weeks. I don't have to tell you this is virtually impossible, and so we approached the deadline, passed it, and then a few others: deadlines for eviction by the owner, and deadlines for the compliance with regulations by the authorities. On the other side of those deadlines always awaited the seizure and 'destruction' of the cows. You can imagine the constant panic!

In the end, I managed to purchase the current farm with the last Euros my family could scrape up. Despite a handful of Heartstone friends' years-long and never-ceasing efforts to find a well-off enough person to save Heartstone and the cows, we weren't able to find anyone to actually commit to that. They have been in touch with pretty much every vegan organisation, celebrity, millionaire and billionaire, and you already know the result.

And so the gang and myself moved to Co. Cavan, to a completely derelict farm with hardly any infrastructure, too little grazing, no power, internet, warm water, heating, fencing, gates... and little has changed in the meantime.

More in the next post...

31/05/2026

Hi all,

I guess it is time again for a little recap how we got here, and into the harrowing situation we are finding ourselves in. 'We', that is, as usual, the cows and me, since there is no-one else here (apart from the horses, dogs and cats).

In 2017, I bought a small farm in Co. Sligo, the original Heartstone. Not to open a sanctuary, but to heal and recover, live more self-sufficientish, grow some veganic veg, maybe sell them. The farm came with three cows, and Ireland’s desperate need for a lifeline for cows, and calves particularly, soon led to Heartstone turning into a sanctuary.

By the end of 2022, it had become obvious that the constant flooding of the farm was caused by an aquifer that had formed underneath the farm yard. As a result, the farm was sinking and the infrastructure slowly collapsed into the water and mud.

This led to the first instance of Heartstone not being able to meet the legal requirements for keeping cows. We tried temporary and mobile infrastructure - and failed spectacularly. Many of the gang are just much too tall, wide, strong and heavy for anything but solid steel infrastructure, concreted in.

This, in turn, led to - now three years ago - the authorities threatening to seize and kill the cows for the first time.

In complete panic, we - at that time, there were still volunteers involved - desperately tried to raise the funds to buy a place that would fulfill the requirements since there was no time left to build from scratch.

Again, we failed spectacularly.

Three days before the cows' (literal) deadline, I packed a bagpack, the dogs, cats, and cows, and moved us all to a farm in Co. Meath - the only even remotely suitable one there was at the time for the little money I had - which had agreed to let us move in even before the contracts were signed. The farm had no human accommodation, only an office, lay extremely exposed on a hillside, and the setup was far from ideal for the gang, especially all the ones with special needs.

What followed were months and months of bullying by the owner, who in the end never signed any contracts, decided not to sell - and evicted the gang and myself instead. 😰

More in the next post...

30/05/2026

Another week has passed, and while I know it seems like good news, it only increases chances even more it's all going to be over any day.

My utmost priority is to keep any tiny glimpse of hope there might be left (not sure) alive. Sometimes, this includes not discussing certain things publicly. Sometimes, not doing things that some of you might think - no blame at all, simply a result of not fully being in the picture, which is naturally the case if you're not on the ground, and as y'all know, no-one but me is - might help. Whatever I am doing and not doing is in the gang's best interest.

Cows are the most highly regulated farmed animal species, and the laws surrounding them are very specific, and vary from country to country, even within the EU. If animal rights were a thing, one of advocacy's main focus should be to exempt rescued farmed animals from the (cruel, and often lethal) rules that apply to actively farmed animals. How many cows at sanctuaries have been killed in the UK as a result of these rules? How many birds?

Definitely more than animals killed through bloodsports, and not in a more 'humane' way either (which is an oxymoron in itself anyway).

How about an organisation taking this cause on as a campaign focus? Animal ag has to be dismantled as quickly as possible anyway - for environmental as much as for ethical reasons - so why not create a regulatory system society, and the individuals concerned, can fall back onto when things collapse, or - much more unlikely unfortunately - animal ag is being abolished before collapse happens (which might indeed prevent it from happening - or postpone it - at the very last minute)? Sounds like a good idea to me. Only, someone has to do it.

We really need to re-evaluate our foci and put more long-term, life-saving, existential causes first. Oh and, they must include all sentient life. Humans, too. 🕊🐾👣

30/05/2026

That's it for now with a 'summer' that was only supposed to be spring, at least in Ireland. The continent is still roasting, and so are numerous countries around the world, including India with unsurvivable temperatures, and the US, and the impact on our food supply will become evident soon. I'm not going to waffle about it again now, but we must change our priorities and lifestyles, now. Veganism is a crucial step, but by far not enough for us to stand a chance.

But, the news in general are absolutely horrifying, and unless you are following independent news outlets online, most likely you haven't heard a word about most of the dystopian things that are happening and directly impacting us all, threatening our rights (is there still such a thing?), safety, livelihoods, and eventually, lives. (Feel free to regularly check my reposts for the most significant news.)

Did you know the I$raeli & U$ armies are about to merge? That criticising 🧊 now puts you on the U$ t€rror list, as does advocating for (not to mention, being) trans/LGTBQIA+ in general, and even just speaking out against fa$cism?

Did I mention criticising the g€nocides, and its enablers?

The latest one to get you on there - hold on to your hats! - is speaking up against Big Tech and Al. And what happens to the people who are being arrested/kidnapped under these premises - or for having the wrong skin colour or surname - you can find in my re-posts, too.

All of this is beyond alarming. 🚨 Oh, and of course trying to protect the environment is on the list, too. And now that 360° surveillance is being implemented everywhere... we're next.

Fasten your seat belts, y'all. (Relative) safety is a thing of the past, and we must stop this machinery that will all too gladly throw us under the bus for more power, control, and profit. As they, completely literally, did last night with a protester who was trying to prevent children and random people from being deported to unsafe locations they have no affiliation with. That's where we are. 😶

🪬

28/05/2026

A few slightly sunnier pictures.

And, please donate if you at all can. If not to save the cows, then at least so I can pay hay, feed and bedding as long as they are needed. While some of you, incredibly kind and caring, donate every few cents they can spare, overall donations don't even cover feed and bedding.

I am already owing tens of thousands for the works that have already been done and part of the property's purchasing price, but no more loans are possible. And, they shouldn't have to be either. Think of how much money is going to paid directors, staff, and infrastructure at other places before a single cent goes to the animals... and I can't afford even the basics.

But, we are going in circles about this: those who care have no money, and those who do, don't care (enough). Nevertheless, please know that your support means the world, even if I can't thank or communicate with anyone individually. Thank you! ✨️

Be safe y'all. 🪬

Edit: would some of you please be so kind to drop either the fundraiser link or the Linktree into the comments if you come across a new post by me? I can't put them into the posts since Facebook actively suppresses content with links, and don't have the time to post them separately every time. Thank you!

28/05/2026

It's a grey day, and on a day like today, I guess it's fair enough to share some grey pictures as well: Dermot and Philip, trying a different feed.

It's after 6pm now, and no official visitors, thankfully. It's no joke having to panic at the sound of vehicles approaching for pretty much over three years straight (for the same reason, but varying root causes). 🫨

And how many times did I think it can't get any darker, any more dire, any more desperate and urgent and out of time - and we are still here.

If only there was any hope implicit in this fact! Unfortunately, the opposite is the case. Since we are overdue the last deadline for now six months, there is as good as no hope left. It is, most likely, simply too late now. We will see.

In some other countries, as some of you might be aware, rescued animals are considered and legally being treated differently than actively farmed ones: in some areas, for example, it is possible to remove their ear tags. Not so in Ireland: here, the exact same rules and regulations that farms have to abide by apply to sanctuaries, too. The only value an animal's life has, in this system, is the financial gain made at their expense. No consideration, no care, no compassion (legally speaking). A tool for economic gain.

Maybe, in a society like this, there is simply no place for a place like Heartstone. One person and a gang of cows can't take on and defy a system built on, and defined by, exploitation. And since no-one else is prepared or able to fight the fight, at least not on the ground... tilting at windmills would be an euphemism.

Be safe y'all. 🪬

28/05/2026

A society that punishes everyone who already is disadvantaged, for problems that are effects of the disadvantaged situation (eg trauma, poverty, physical or mental challenges etc), or resulting from other people's wrongdoing, ill-will or sabotage, does the opposite of what a society and its social and political structures have been created for: protect the vulnerable.

Instead, it rewards the bullies, the narcissists, the cruel, the greedy, those seeking power; if not actively rewarded, at least they get away with their despicable behaviour, often at the expense of those who aren't willing to sell their own grandmother, or willing but unable to climb the ladder.

And as we see, all of this causes society to spiral ever further from its purpose, and from human nature; it fosters separation, fear, and hatred, and as a result, violence, and benefits only the already privileged.

If you have paid attention, you have realised we are now so deeply caught in the web of mass surveillance and mass manipulation, that disengagement might be the only way out. Yet, we might not be prepared to take that step until it is too late. And it won't be long.

And of course, the solution to the former problem, is us. We must protect and uplift the vulnerable. No-one else will do that. And, by the way, that applies to animals, too. Including the cows of Heartstone.

💔💔💔

27/05/2026

A little photo story from today: Dermot, Jia, and Bella². 🤎🩶🤍🖤

🪬

27/05/2026

Hi all,

I am just off the phone with my neighbour (who will be reading this 👋🏻) and who just sold his animals at the mart. I know it is hard on him to see them go, but he didn't mention that.

What he did say is that he doesn't know where they are going, but - he definitely doesn't want the gang to be shot. And I know that he means that, because - as I mentioned before - he has been asking time and again whether and when the roof and handling area are finally being done. And of course, there has been no progress.

That's how serious this is. Everyone expects the authorities to pull up any day, any moment - and that was it, then.

Only that, behind keyboards, and beyond the invisible walls of social media, few actually feel any immediate connection with the gang, or identify with Heartstone and the cause of saving the cows, or Irish cows in general; not to mention the wider concept of Heartstone.

There seems to be no solution to that problem either - if there was time, maybe things would develop the way they should have been all along: Heartstone being an actual team of people, with regular and long-term volunteers - but there isn't.

I am already late again since there is literally no 5 minutes to spare in a day, but I will post more photos later.

Be safe y'all. 🪬

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