Please help our sanctuary hang on until we can access our site and open at last, we never imagined we'd still be waiting after 10 months :(
by Cath in Stirling, United Kingdom
Any funds over our £6000 original running cost target will be used to start setting up a large covered barn area to allow for comfortable visits over the winter season! Without this, we will struggle to have many visits over the winter.
This is the last thing I ever wanted to do, and I'm so sorry. A second crowdfunder in less than a year was never part of the plan, and I never for a second imagined we'd need to do this, but sadly, 10 months after moving to our forever home, we STILL have no functioning access to our land and are STILL unable to generate any meaningful income.
(Previous crowdfunder from November 2022, with full story of our move HERE: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/harmony-fields-winter-warriors )
This situation is completely outwith our control, there is nothing we can do to speed it up, we simply have to just keep hanging on and hanging on...and hanging on a bit longer, as we have been since September last year. We had NO idea it would take anything like this long, but due to constant delays and problems with the wider development on the farm, it just hasn't worked out for us yet, and we find ourselves stuck in a horrible, terrifying, stressful limbo.
This never ending stream of delays has really taken its toll on us, personally, financially, emotionally and mentally, and we are really in danger now. I have used every possible avenue open to me to keep afloat, I have begged, borrowed and maxed out everything I can, month after month after month, and now find myself with nowhere left to turn. We have had a few emergency additions to the family recently which have racked up bills we really couldn't afford, but there's no way we could refuse to help them.
We have been literally saved by a couple of incredibly generous donations over the last few months but they are long gone and we are completely out of time, money and options to support our wonderful animals.
The strain this is putting on our mental health, as well as our relationship, is really starting to show and I now genuinely don't know if we're going to make it out the other side, we are drowning. There's only so long I can keep telling myself "it'll be fine, not much longer...", when the reality now is its not fine, and we just can't keep going any more with no income.
My wonderful partner Ronnie has been forced to take shifts elsewhere just to keep a roof over our family's head, which means progress on developing our site and facilities has completely stopped. All of our staff have been forced to find work elsewhere, meaning I am dealing with everything on a daily basis totally alone and I don't know how long I can carry on like this. Not to mention the animals are truly missing the love and interaction from lots of people every day...I just can't fill the void by myself and I can feel their sadness :(
I need to make it totally clear that none of this in any way the fault of our wonderful neighbours at Rachel's Farm, they are the loveliest family, trying so hard to do a truly wonderful thing with their wellbeing retreat and rewilding projects, but they are struggling too with the massive challenges brought by any large development...the delays, the unrelenting complaints, the red tape, its all so much harder than any of us could ever have imagined...they have been incredibly supportive and are doing everything they can to help us, but they are struggling too and neither of us can do anything about the unprecedented delays. Quite simply, we're closed, we have no option, we have no access, no parking, no help.
There has been fantastic progress on the road in the last couple of weeks thank goodness, but the bridge is still to be done and realistically we are looking at another few weeks minimum before we can even think about starting to open up to visitors safely.
Even from that point (whenever it may be) its going to take some time to build the business back up to start generating what we need to function on a monthly basis, and that's not to mention dealing with the debts and overdue bills we've been forced to take on just to keep afloat this long.
I honestly hate to ask, I totally appreciate times are hard for everyone and you've all been so incredibly supportive over the last 10 months, but we desperately need you just one more time. Please, can you help us? Every penny really will make such a difference in allowing us to hang in there, just a little bit longer!!
Thanks so much.
Love and snuggles, Cath, Ronnie and the furry, scaly gang ♥ x