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| Garage Sale Raises $750 |
| June 27, 2005 by Stuart |
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This last Saturday Fear-No-More Zoo supporters Rita Gordon, Susan Thompson and Jake Siglain ran an all-day garage sale to benefit the zoo, raising $750. This money will go toward the new camel habitat.
Thanks to Rita, Jake, Susan Thompson and others who helped. And thanks to everyone who donated goods to sell.
Chances are good for another such sale in a few months or so, so keep us in mind when you come across giveaways in your cupboards and storage.
Stuart
Rita Gordon and camels |
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| The Zoo Guild, Our Suppliers, Vets and Supporters |
| June 23, 2005 by Stuart |
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The Fear-No-More Zoo Guild was commenced in 2004 to further support the zoo by lifting it beyond the one or two person project it otherwise has been since 1974. The Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary zoo guild now includes about 15 people who help with the hands-on care of the zoo and animals, and a growing number of other supporters, some of whom live as far away as Australia, Germany and Fiji.
As the guild develops, its responsibilities will encompass a variety of supportive functions and enterprises such as, education, hosting Fear-No-More seminars and retreats, (see photo at left) producing literature, fundraising projects, animal training and husbandry, help with veterinary care, sacred animal care-taking, research, habitat design, gardening and landscaping, inter-species communication, assisting other animal and environmental groups in various ways, and so forth.
Today, the local guild members handle much of the animal care. Thanks to Susan Hughes, Ron Bartlett, Terry Cafferty, Paula Stryker, Dorothy Hall, Trudyanne Hasenauer, Sandy Gutman, Susan Thompson, Andrea Keningston and Andrea Schwab, all the animals are well cared for with nutritious daily meals prepared and served on time. Other guild members help with clean-up, habitat maintenance and general care of the zoo grounds. Fiona Syme, Lena Jenkins and Crane Kirkbride put a lot of energy into the miniature horses. And we welcome Elaine Lombard to the guild and look forward to her service, particularly to the llamas and mini horses.
This Saturday (June 25) Rita Gordon is running a large garage sale to raise additional funding for both the zoo in general and the new camel and tortoise projects. Local zoo supporters have gifted the sale with a wide variety of items to benefit the care of the animals. And Marta Herlin is contributing fresh, home-made, Swedish ginger cookies! The sale will be happening at the lower end of Shenandoah Circle, just up the road from the zoo. Come early for the best deals....
Mary Nerney, an excellent jeweler in Santa Rosa, is now producing a small line of original jewelry specifically for the zoo to sell in its online shop, which is currently in development. Mary is very generously offering these special zoo-based items with 100% of the sale profits going to support the animals' care. Check back with the Gift Shop for these and other unique items that will soon be appearing on the "shelves" there. Other products we'll be carrying soon include posters, T-shirts, caps, painted emu eggs, camel hair baskets, and who knows what else...
With the generosity of singer and performer, Jacqueline Clemons, and sound man Tom Stiles, we are also creating a CD of some of Jacqueline's original music, which will be sold through the Gift Shop to benefit Fear-No-More Zoo.
I want to take a moment here to express my thanks, on behalf of the zoo, to all the tradesmen, who have helped us so much over the years. Electrical, plumbing, construction and maintenance and repair work is essential to moving things ahead these days.
Much thanks to Nahshon Nahumi, Tom Remus, John Colon, David Johnson, Ron Jensen, Shannon Goolsbee, Steve Curtis, Helmut Imberger, Andrew Fuller, Marc Carfrae, Bob DeLollis, Donovan Train, Bob Sabatino, Roger Gerakin, Jake Siglain, Scott Gough, Steve Claydon, Frank Marrero, Robert Salisbury, David Carroll, Daniel Tynan, Rob Litchman, Mark Hanson, Malcolm Dunshee, Emmett Johnson, Al Young, Larry Rugoff, and the many service retreatants who also helped with various projects. (Apologies if I didn't get your name down here.) These volunteers have saved the zoo from otherwise spending tens of thousands of dollars.
While I'm on the track of saying thanks there are a few others I'm going to throw in here...
Without our various suppliers we'd be starving here, and lacking in a few other ways too! But thanks to friendly service and good products the animals and zoo are in much better shape today than they might have been. The suppliers we tend to use are Lower Lake Feed and Supply, Rainbow Agriculture, Rainbow Mealworms, Mendo Mill, Piedmont Lumber, Dynamite Supplements, Young Living Essential Oils, Flint River Foods, Silver Lining Herbs and Heartland Industries... and a few others.
I must also thank our much valued veterinarians, each of whom has helped us through both tough and happy times. Many thanks to Kenneth Harkewitz, Lisa Takesui, Jeffrey Smith and Debra Sally.
I'm almost done... saving the most important to last. Much gratitude and thanks goes to all our supporters and patrons, who over the years have made so much possible. It's an honor to serve alongside all of you. And very special thanks is due to Stanley Thompson and Loretta Sheehan, as well as Michael Bennett, Will Hirschowitz, Paul Wagner and Linda Gerrard, each of whom has given handsomely at different times. Together we can continue to do a lot more for the Vision of Fear-No-More and thereby leave behind us a foundation for future generations to carry on and develop further. Fear-No-More Zoo still stands right at the beginning of its development.
To quote what Adi Da once said, "Feel what the zoo's particular components are. The more I get to do what I intend there, the more you will observe it. But even as it is, as simple as it is, it immediately awakens a certain congenial disposition in you, if you go down there sensitively of course, and free to do so." (Talk excerpt January 5th, 1996)
More to come...
Stuart
(Drench and H20, right)
PS: In all this I never forget my good friend and brother, Glen Johannes, who years ago tricked me into coming to serve at Fear-No-More Zoo, and who still guides and critiques my service with a sensitivity and understanding unique to him. |
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| Camel Trails 1 |
| June 21, 2005 by Stuart |
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Within several months, by Sept-Oct 2005, the camels here at Fear-No-More Zoo will be relocated to a new, much larger, area. The size of their new pasture will be easily big enough for them to disappear in. At the north end they will have access to a small lake, where on hot summer days they'll be able to wade into the water to cool off.
The project will proceed in a number of phases. The first phase is in progress now. It involves the construction, by hand, of a long "camel trail" from their present location in the central Fear-No-More Zoo compound, across the Laughing Man Creek and up over the hills and up onto some higher country. The trail winds through dense shrub and manzanita groves, up over rocky ridges, through a stand of pines and oaks and then spills out onto a plateau region that is secluded and feels far away from anywhere.
Once the camel trail is completed, which should occur within several weeks, work will begin in July sometime on clearing the upper new area to make it suitable for the camels. Due to a tight budget we'll be building the perimeter fencing mostly from rows of piled-up brush and in some places trenches. Both of these styles of fencing work really well with camels, if designed rightly. Some traditional post and mesh fencing, and gates, will be constructed as well. A loading bay area will be built, together with an upgrade of an existing old road into this area. Shade and rain shelters will go up last, together with food storage shelters.
We had hoped on doing this project with considerably more funding, but we can't hold off on it any longer. We really want to move the camels before the winter, so we're doing it with what we've got. Eventually the brush row-fencing will need to be replaced with post and mesh, as it won't last forever. But we can do that over time.
As we proceed with this project I'll be adding updates here on our progress so please check back from time to time to see what we're up to. I'll also include bios on our camels, each of whom is a great character. It would be hard to find a more emotionally sensitive, strong, sweet and intelligent personality than you find in a camel. I think you'll enjoy getting to know them a little.
The camels you'll be introduced to are, Jingle Baba (recently deceased), Google Mama, Peaceful Baba, Purnimama and the youngest of the family, Jelly Baba.
Thanks for your interest and support. If you have questions on any of this feel free to write me.
Stuart |
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| Tribute to Panther |
| June 16, 2005 by Stuart |
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Panther (below right), our male red panther chameleon died last night. He'd been carrying a benign growth on his front left shoulder for about twelve months. We operated on it three times but it kept re-growing. His age, plus the physical stress of this large growth, were the factors, we feel, contributing to his decline.
With a simple ceremony Andrea, Sandy and I buried him in Fear-No-More Zoo's creek-side graveyard. It was a touching burial of a lizard friend whom we'd all come to know and love. His contemplative depth inspired each of us.
In early October of 2004 (autumn) we had a full night's electrical blackout here at the zoo. The Aldabran tortoises were in their hot springs mud-hole so they were going to be fine for the night. And the Jackson's chameleons can handle colder temperatures better than most other chameleons, so they were fine, too.
Because panther chameleons don't do well in cooler temperatures I brought Panther from the greenhouse and set him up in a plastic box with a lid, and kept him up against my body under the blankets of my bed for the night to keep him warm. I don't know how much he actually slept that night, but his regular scratching kept me awake much of the night. He did stay comfortably warm, though, and survived the night in good form.
I've known half a dozen red panther chameleons, and two who really impressed me. One was Cinnabar (left), who was as relational and approachable as a pet dog. He was extraordinary that way, and a big robust individual. And Panther, well, he was more like a tree or a plant, and not ever as red in color as Cinnabar, very steady, deeply contemplative, and hardly at all inclined to society.
Given our location in the mountains (about 2500 feet) in Northern California, we will only have mountain species of chameleon living here from now on. Their ability to withstand colder temperatures for brief periods gives them a much better survivablity in case of power outages.
The mountain species that would do well here are the Jackson's, Johnston's, Quadricornis and Parson's chameleons, but principally the Jackson's.
Our Chameleon Garden currently comprises three walk-in greenhouses set within a garden of ponds, stream, jungle plants and winding pathway. One greenhouse is only partially completed, so we need to get that finished soon, too. If you'd like to consider helping with funding for this project please see our How to Help page.
Chameleons are profoundly contemplative beings... Adi Da has great regard for them because of this. He's asked that we always try to maintain chameleons here at Fear-No-More Zoo because of the depth of meditation they bring to the zoo.
While speaking about the chameleons back on March 27 1996, Adi Da commented, "Wherever there is another, their fear arises. They should be left to Contemplate, and they should be protected in a place where people go in, but not in mobs. They should see Contemplatives, not people diddling and disturbing them. The chameleons would actually like to be kept some place where people Contemplate, but not where it's busy."
Regards,
Stuart |
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| Thank you for your support.... |
| June 15, 2005 by Stuart |
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Greetings,
With the help of a very good friend we have just begun this new web-based newsletter so we can keep you more up to date with Fear-No-More Zoo and what goes on here.
This may be your first time to our website, or perhaps you've visited us before. In any case we hope you enjoy what you find and that the information and stories here are of use to you.
Small private zoos can be difficult to fund in the best of circumstances. And for Fear-No-More Zoo, with such an unusual and unique point of view and situation, it is harder still. The more unique the niche, the more unique and special are the patrons and supporters.
If you enjoyed this website and appreciate the values communicated here, we welcome and invite your support of Fear-No-More Zoo.
You can visit the How to Help Page (see menu at left) and select one of the monthly support donation suggestions to join us in further developing and deepening the Vision of Fear-No-More.
We invite you to start by giving $5, $10, $50 or $100 each month, whatever suits your budget. This kind of monthly support goes toward the zoo's operations costs, which are always growing. Every donation, large or small, adds up to the support that is needed.
(At left is Jelly Baba, a four month old Bactrian camel)
And please check back here at your convenience for further news and updates.
Thanks again,
Stuart |
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© 2005-2006 The Avataric Samrajya of Adidam Pty Ltd, as trustee for The Avataric Samrajya of Adidam.
All rights reserved. Perpetual copyright claimed.
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