Blue Ribbon Photo Contest--LAST CALL!!!

Our 2011 Most Mallard Winner "Wings" admires her Award!

Our Blue Ribbon Photo Contest is well underway! Even so, we haven't had many entries this year and unfortunately had to close down the "Most Comical" category.

This event normally helps us raise the funds for 2-3 months worth of grain, so it's a great cause! PLUS we love seeing all those gorgeous photos of your ducks and geese!

Photos for this year's competition will be accepted  through June 15, 2012 12:00 midnight EST and we hope you will enter! Both photographs and full entry donations must be received by then in order to officially compete. 

This year in addition to blue ribbons, two trophies will also be awarded for the Most Photogenic and the Most Mallard photographs!

Click here for complete Rules & Submission Guidelines!

Click here to view our Prior Winners!

St. Francis Duck Statue

What an amazing surprise! Our collective breaths have been taken away...

While most of our beloved rescues find their way into new and loving homes, a handful of them never leave us. For years we have been hanging onto the ashes of our lost rescues, waiting for the day when we could break ground on a little place to lay them to rest. 

Last year we began our search for an outdoor statue of St. Francis of Assisi (the patron saint of animals) that featured a duck or goose, but came up empty-handed.

Only a couple of close friends were aware of our search and our need for a small sanctuary within our sanctuary and one of those people was Kat (Haley's mom).

I just can't express how touched I was to walk out into our front yard and find a beautiful statue of St. Francis surrounded by a little flock of ducks and geese! I was completely overwhelmed and still look upon it with tears of joy.

To really bring out the white statue's beauty, I've been painting it and will share final photos when it's completed. It will eventually find itself peacefully situated in a small, circular clearing in the woods, surrounded by flowering trees and customized ducky stepping stones.

We can't thank all of you enough for helping to provide us with a place to go for some quiet time of remembrance.

Thank you to everyone who donated to this cause or who brought tag sale items to help raise funds:

Lydia (Benji's mom!), Donna K., Jennie & Laura, Pam, Deb, Janice, Donna W., Charlotte, Darlene, Carol, Liz, Ayreka Flock Birdsall, Sarah, Karen, Tim, John & Julie, Paula & Joe, Reit, Jenn and Mary!

If I've missed anyone, please let me know!

And thank you especially to Kat for sneaking around and organizing this whole thing without me figuring it out. You are such a wonderful friend and I'm so glad to have met you through Haley!