Lunch with a pygmy goat
The day I went to collect five baby Pygmy goats I didn’t appreciate the profound effect that the tiny goats would have on my life. The goats were supposed to be a surprise for my five young children but in reality the goats were a gift for myself. Like many of us I have had a lifelong obsession with animals, but the practicalities of life meant I could only get my fix vicariously. Through endless visits to zoos and safari parks, watching TV or eventually by walking my own dogs through the parks of London. I always felt sure my dogs and those walks helped me to better deal with the ups and downs of life.
Life can be hard for all of us at times and some of us will struggle more than others. Most of us will have depression or mental illness touch us or the people we love in some horrible way. For as long as I can remember my own father was one of those people that battled daily with depression. My dearest Dad spent many years of his life desperately searching for a way to feel better. He was prescribed endless pills with limited success. It is fact antidepressants help many people to better cope with life but in the end Dad felt the tablets were no longer helping him. He felt that they were making the problem worse, and he began to try alternative routes such as meditation and diet with some small success.
I wanted so desperately to help him feel better but didn’t know how. Then in 2017 my world was turned upside down. My dad died very suddenly of a massive heart attack, just a few months after my twins were born. I was devastated. I felt very sure that in the end his constant battles with his mental health had contributed to the poor physical health that cut his life short.
My father's death and other significant life events led me to make the decision to leave my urban life in London and so along came some chickens followed by Pygmy goats, pigs, a lot more chickens, ducks, quail, sheep and alpacas. All living harmoniously in what was once my back garden. It was hard work and I loved it.
Work was needed to make the garden a safe happy home for all the animals and so the builders came. One of the builders, who I shall call Paul, was very open about the daily lifelong battle he was fighting against depression. I could feel his sadness overflowing.
One day I went to take Paul a mug of tea and found him with my goats. Sitting enjoying their company whilst eating his sandwich. This quickly became a daily routine. Watching him spend his lunch break alongside the goats often choosing to sweep their enclosure, fill their water buckets or give the sweet spot between their horns a good scratch seemed to give him brief moments of peace. As I watched him every day a little seed grew into a bigger idea. Could I take my beloved animals and the healing effects of nature to do something positive? To try to help people who might need it feel a little better about life. That is how my journey to build Nonnington Farm and turn it into a haven for people, animals and wildlife began.
Just spending time with the little goats as they go about their day, playing, lazily munching hay, or lying in the sun is sometimes just enough to make the world seem a little brighter.