With some help from one of our local, long-time supporters, and a group of college student volunteers, the Girls have their very own garden. The gardeners took what we had on hand, and put it to good use; Old hay bales form the border and rows of our raised garden. The garden rows are filled with a rich mixture of dirt, sawdust from the bottom of the pile, and some of our unending supply of premium "big Girl" compost. Seeds were then planted and with almost no monetary cost; we have a sweet little organic garden that supplies the Girls with some tasty extras. Hopefully we will be able to build on this garden area for next year.
Having our own fresh assortment of produce allows us to supplement the girls diets, on occasion, with a little something different. Having grown it ourselves, we know there are no chemicals or pesticides, and we can just run down the Sanctuary road and pick the goodies when they are ready. In addition, even our compost pile grows its own wild watermelons and pumpkins!
Since the staff is generally a little tight on time, our volunteer gardener, Leila, comes to weed, water, and de-bug our mini produce section—so, many thanks for her advice and her diligence.
In addition to the garden, once a week we visit a local Amish produce auction in Ethridge, TN. The pairing of this wholesale produce auction and the big Girls seems a natural as the freshness of the produce and the large amounts definitely fit the Girls' appetites at a great price.
The huge covered auction platform is surrounded with the traditional horse-drawn Amish black buggies as well as large metal-wheeled wagons full of beautiful produce, and pulled by harnessed stocky horses. One can wander the rows and rows of wooden palettes stacked with perfectly sorted summer fruits and vegetables in a rainbow of colors: squash yellows, cucumber greens, translucent onion whites, deep blueberry blues, tomato reds, and eggplant purples.
The Amish families with their children are milling around and helping out, though their work began before daybreak in the fields. At 1:00 pm the bidding begins for each farmer's lot with a minimum number of boxes, bushels, bags or even a wagonload to be bought as the cadence of the auctioneer begins to excite the bidders. A raised hand here, a nod there, a shake of the head, and you may have just bought 4 bags of the season's first sweet corn for $8.00 a 60-count bag.
All of the above supplements our regular produce orders from McCartney Produce in Paris, TN. They have been in business since 1947 and offer organic produce as well as detailed information on the source of their produce. Our standard orders on Tuesdays and Saturdays include various amounts of broccoli, cabbage, carrots, corn, potatoes, onions, bananas, oranges, apples and grapes. Each of the barns orders for their own specific needs depending on the preferences of the elephants there.
To add something special to all of this, some of our supporters like to order "treats" for the Girls. On this website under "How You Can Help" there is information on choices of produce that one may specify for treats, in addition to the regular produce and fruit. Those choices include mangoes, sugar cane, pineapple, strawberries, cranberries, tomatoes, banana leaves and melons.
All totaled, each elephant consumes from 150 to 200 lbs. of vegetation, hay, grain and produce every day.
