Peaceful Pastures All Natural Meats

Sadie
Our pets are more than just a companions: they are our confidants; someone who adores us no matter what; and loving best friends filled with heart
warming selfless devotion.

Pet Lovers are in a different group than pet owners; we want what is truly best for our kind companions. Commitment, proper veterinary care, and the best food that is truly what nature intended.

kitten

What we feed our pets and why: We feed our animals a BARF diet of raw meat, raw eggs and raw dairy (milk, yogurt and cheese). We do not supplement with any grains or vegetables.

This does go against some of the mainstream BARF thinking, but our reasoning is this: we have never seen any of our dogs go dig up a turnip and eat it. The diet of wild dogs would include vegetables and dairy ONLY as undigested stomach contents of the animals hunted.

Frankly, the milk is more of a convenience issue for us. The barn cats consider milk twice a day as a condition of their employment!

Our Cats: When we moved to Tennessee, we had several cats and by picking up strays abandoned at the dumpsites, we acquired several more. We had them all spayed or neutered and current on their shots, but tragedy struck nonetheless. Our cats became infected with a strain of raccoon distemper and sadly, there was nothing we could do to save them. Only 2 cats, Smokey and Lover survived out of 11 (they were never symptomatic).

Molly: As the cat population decreased, the rodent population increased, so it was time to get more cats. One day I was driving past a greenhouse, and I saw a sign for "Free Kittens." I came home with the remaining two and named them "Molly" and "Yoshi" after siblings on "Star Trek." Unfortunately, Yoshi developed a taste for fresh chicken, so he had to go live with my friend Kim who views a chicken killin' cat as a form of poultry population control, but Molly still reside with us. She and Neelix are big buddies and they like to hunt together. Molly is a compact cat, and rather shy. She adores her hunting buddy Neelix and Frosty the dog.

Neelix, also named for a "Star Trek" character came to us via my friend Kim. (You could say that she and I swapped cats!) A farmer who lives near the vet clinic where she works needed to place some kittens and he said they were from good mousing genetics. Only one small problem, Neelix was wild. Daily installments of warm goat milk soon had him coming around the humans, and he gradually tamed into a very nice kitty. He is an excellent mouser and likes to perch atop large, round bales of hay and watch for rodent movement in the field. Pretty clever, huh?
Lover

Lover: When Kim Betz's 6 year old son met this cat her exclaimed, "This cat is so friendly he is a Lover Kitty!" and the name stuck. Lover was abandoned as a 5 month old cat at the clinic where Kim works. She fostered him at her farm until I was able to pick him up. He is still growing and is going to fill out to be a very large cat. Lover somehow finds a way to get into our attic (!!!) and hunt for mice. I an often startled when I open the door onto the screened in porch and Lover parachutes down from the attic! His favorite activities are hunting mice, and climbing trees. Lover's favorite food is anything chicken.

Smoky: Smokey had a very rough start. She was born in a litter of three into a family with wretched, cruel children. They would lock her in the dishwasher and then RUN IT. To this day she wants nothing to do with children--and can you blame her? We moved Smokey with us from Indiana, to Virginia, again in Virginia, and finally to Tennessee. It makes me so sick to read in the classifieds "Moving, can't keep". Smokey was anything but grateful to be relocated; she fought like a Tasmanian Devil when caught (we had to use welding gloves) but she has settled into each home very nicely.

Smokey is convinced that we built our wrap around porch just for her comfort and convenience. She is very much a one person cat, and her person is Jenny. Jenny can pet her at any time, and she really does seem to miss her when she is away for a few days. Smokey's BIG buddy is Frosty. They have been close friends for years, and they often sleep and nap together. Smokey's favorite activities are hanging out and sleeping, and her favorite food is anything pork.

Note: I'm very sorry report that my special Smokey passed away unexpectedly in her sleep in August 2003. We found her curled up on the front porch, with her best friend Frosty keeping vigil over her body. Smokey was very much a one person cat, but given her traumatic history, it was very understandable. I was absolutely her human, and her absence leaves a void in my heart....Jenny

Luke and Christopher: These cute kitties are brothers from my sister in laws in Indiana. Luke got the looks, but Christopher has the brains of the family. Initially, if Luke was in the barn loft he couldn't figure out how to get down, and if he was down, he couldn't remember how to get back up. His brother showed him the way enough times that he finally caught on. Their favorite food is anything liver.

Arthur: On my way to Bible study one night I spotted a black and white fuzzball in the road. Of course, I stopped to pick him up. He was hungry, but purring and friendly. I named him "Arthur" after Kay Arthur (of Precept Ministries) whose Bible studies I lead. This kitty is a red meat machine. He loves rodents of any kind and ground beef.

Archer: Yet another Trek named cat. He was about 9 months old when I found him abandoned at a gas station. He had clearly been someone's pet. Archer prefers to work solo and comes and goes as he pleases.
Annie

Annie: While I normally do not like to respond to "free kitten" ads as I feel it encourages irresponsible breeding, Annie came from a neighbor. She loves to watch me milk the goats and came about her name in an interesting way. As you may have noted from other pictures on the web site, we live in a valley. Radio reception is minimal. BUT, Annie's favorite place is to supervise the milking is atop the radio and when Annie lies on the radio, I have reception. Hence her name "Annie Tennie"

Our Dogs:

Frosty: When we were living in rural Indiana in 1993, someone dumped a beautiful 5 month old puppy on us. She was marked like a collie, but instead of being sable, she was silver. As we already had 3 dogs at the time, I took her to my dear friend, Debbie Dix, who WAS the Crawford County Humane Society. Debbie has a real soft spot for collies, so she said she would keep her for herself. Months went by and we were invited to a Halloween cookout at Debbie's home. The puppy was now a BIG puppy and still as sweet and friendly as ever. Sadly, two of the three dogs we had at the time she was dumped were killed by coyotes. Darrin said I could have her if I still wanted her! While Debbie was quite fond of her she wanted to see her go to a home with lots of room to run, so Frosty came home with us!

The following spring I was inspecting a property for the health department and a woman had 2 dogs that looked JUST LIKE Frosty. I asked her about them and she said they had answered an ad in the paper for collie/malamute cross puppies. The time corresponded to when Frosty would have been the same age. She said there were several puppies in the litter, but they were only able to take two of them. I firmly believe that Frosty was one of the remaining puppies.

Frosty is a terribly sweet, VERY gentle natured dog. She is quite fond of cats, and they sleep snuggled into her thick fur. We have also used Frosty to keep baby goats warm! Her best buddy is our cat, Smokey.

Seven: Seven was the first dog to be dumped on us here in Tennessee. I was outside one morning and here came this hound, about 5 months old trotting up our long gravel drive. She bore a nylon collar with a chewed off piece of rope and had 'W5' spray painted on her side.

Seven The numbers were very puzzling, and as I called around trying to find what they might mean, I discovered that they indicated she had been run in a field trial competition. So I'm thinking that someone must really be missing this "valuable" dog, right? I called every coon hunter and squirrel hunter I could think of, but no one knew of any recent trials in the area. I put an ad in the paper and on the radio, still no response.

I knew Darrin wasn't too keen on another dog, especially a hound since they tend to bark so much at night. I called shelters and they said since she was a hound, she stood a 0% chance of adoption. Great. Our dogs adjusted to her very well, and like Frosty, she displayed a true fondness for the cats. Weeks turned into months, and it was time to get her spayed or give her up--so I quietly got her spayed. Seven adores children and is both kind and playful. But her favorite hobby is eating--anything---everything. So far the only food I have found that does not appeal to her is potato peels. Because of this affection for food, Seven tends to be a bit...uh...roly poly.

People often ask how she got her name; hubby and I are Trekkies. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, it translates that we are die hard "Star Trek" fans. In the most recent series, there is a character called "Seven of Nine." Our new addition became the 7th dog, so we named her "Seven of Seven," of course now she is "Seven of Ten..."

In the 2 years we have had her, I have yet to see her trail anything, tree anything, or bay at anything significant. Maybe that's why her previous owner had no interest in reclaiming her. In any case, I'm glad she is here as Seven is a most welcome addition to our canine family.

Pebbles & Bam Bam: We got Bam Bam as a 6 week old ADORABLE puppy for Pebbles to train to help her with the goats. We were AMAZED at how smoothly the transition went for goats, dogs and humans. Pebbles seemed relieved to have some reinforcements, and I still regret making her work so long by herself. Pebbles and Bam Bam love EVERYONE.

SISSY: Sissy is our most assertive Pyrenees when it comes to guarding. NO non-working dogs are allowed in her territory. She had not been heavily socialized, but came around very nicely.

Our newest additions: Fred, Barney, Betty & Dino:
After 3 disastrous rounds with "guaranteed" working dogs for the sheep, we decided perhaps the best options was to try to train up our own. Our sheep shearer phone in November to ask if we would be interested in pups that he had. The Awesome Foursome came to live here when they were about 16 weeks old. We opted to put Dino in with our aging sweetheart Pebbles for her to school a replacement. The other three are being bonded and supervised with the sheep.

These Pyrenees are simply incredible dogs with an awesome work ethic. They allow us to sleep well at night in spite of a coyote's howl and they take SUCH good care of "their" animals.

Jacob: Jacob This wonderful, devoted pit bill has quite a story. I found him one morning on my way to work when we lived in Indiana. He'd had a REALLY bad day; he had been abandoned, shot in the leg and hit by a car. I picked him up and he was just so scared and uncertain. After a trip to the vet, I took him to my friend Debbie (see Frosty's story) with the local Humane Society. She took one look at him and sighed, "Oh Hon, is there ANY way you can take him home with you? There is just no way I'll be able to adopt him out; people just won't take a pit bull." So, I brought him home. He is one of the smartest dogs I've ever encountered and is incredibly dedicated. Most anyone who meets me at a Nashville delivery meets Jacob as he rides along too! Jacob likes any food except poultry (go figure).

Kizzy: After tragically losing our working border collie Chase, we somewhat reluctantly began to look for another dog. Bottle calves simply unglue the fabric of my being; they don't lead, they don't drive and the suck and slobber all over you....shudder. Now, just imagine trying to get 20 or so of the drooling beasts from Point A to Point B, and you understand the role of the border collie.

Trained working dogs start at around $2500, which was way out of our budget. Through the goat grapevine, I was given the name of Ed Bradford, a local border collie trial person. I called to ask if he had anything remotely affordable and he expressed interest in allowing us to try Kizzy. He had competed her, but she was too aggressive and didn't have the keen eye for sheep trials; this made her just about perfect for cattle.

He left her with (a very apprehensive) me for a 6 week trial period. I just knew I was going to ruin his dog. For 2 weeks Kizzy was terrified of anyone and everyone; finally, she warmed up a bit and you could actually get your hands on her--but she wouldn't work. Darrin immediately decided he didn't like the dog (and hasn't really changed his mind), but I wasn't ready to give up. I began just going for long walks and letting her follow (she would stay with you, she just didn't want to be touched) without any pressure to do anything. Slowly she began to warm up to me and one evening as I was sitting in a pasture, she came up and placed her head in my lap. From that point forward she has been my sidekick, helper and selfless friend.