Denise’s Story

Elizabeth came into my life quite unexpectedly when I found her in a small parcel outside my neighborhood in 2020, on my 50th birthday. I had always been an enormous cow fan, and moving to Tennessee sure fed that obsession because you cannot go 1/2 a mile without seeing a herd of cattle. I watched the cows come and go in the field next to my house. Calves were born in the spring, and I watched them grow, and then one day, they were gone...

Elizabeth was only a few months old when I first saw her. I immediately went to say hello. Eventually, I ran into the young man who bottle-fed her and asked if I could visit her daily. Not only was she orphaned, but she was also blind in one eye. I thought it was a stubborn infection, but it turns out that, regardless of how it started — whether from an illness or an injury — her eyesight couldn’t be saved.

At the end of December, the young man said he didn't want her, and it was time to sell. Before I knew what I was saying, I blurted out that I would take her. As the words came out of my mouth, I looked across the field to my home and realized I would have to move to keep her. Thanks to COVID and the manure-filled year we all had, it wasn’t the best time for any of this to happen. I certainly couldn’t keep her in my HOA neighborhood.

I attempted to find a farm rescue for her, but they were all full. I tried to find a home for her with people who would care for her as a pet and not return her to the farming industry, but I had no luck. She is a registered Charolais with excellent breeding and would most likely have been used as a breeding cow, but I didn’t want that for her. She was a bit timid and skittish because of her decreased vision. It was necessary to have patience with her.

After weeks and weeks of sleepless nights and days filled with crying and worry, my daughter finally encouraged me to keep her. Having never seen me that distraught over anything, she said I needed to keep the cow, no matter what it took. Limited funds, lousy timing, low home inventory, land selling in days...I had to find a way. Even if I could have found someone, giving her to someone else didn't bring me joy and left me in tears.

I purchased 14 acres of vacant land in McMinnville, TN, to open the Tennessee Cow Rescue. After searching for land for months and miles, I came across this parcel and knew it was the “right” (samma in Sanskrit) place for us. Shortly after I sold my house and moved here to the farm, Agnes joined us, and it was well-timed because Elizabeth was tired of being alone. Cows are herd animals, and being alone was hard on her.

The first year, I lived in an RV with Buddha, my 160lb dog, before building a garage with an apartment above.

In the last five years, we have rescued fourteen cows, fifteen cats, a sheep, and two abandoned pot-belly pigs. We have also saved dozens of other cows by finding them new homes.

Update 3/25/2026:

Here we are, already closing the first quarter of 2026. It’s time to swing into spring cleaning and to get things ready for the year ahead. Farm tours were put on hold for the winter and will resume in May. We have decided to limit tours to groups of family or friends, so once a spot is booked, it will be reserved for that group and closed to others attending at the same time. We are raising the price since that means we’ll have fewer people per tour. You can book a Saturday to visit on the calendar on our Visitor page.

UPCOMING PLANS:

We are ready to plant our garden for the 2nd year. We planted a peach tree, plum tree, and fig tree. Our blackberry plantings from last year survived we are adding blueberries this spring. By year 3, we hope to have extra produce to sell at a farmers’ stand at the front near the entrance. We would sell vegetables, fruit, honey, flowers, and eggs. That revenue would qualify us for a working farm and provide access to additional grants, funding, and programs we don’t qualify for now because we have zero income.

Samara is now almost a year and a half, and she has calmed down and settled in. She and Akiva are finally starting to work together and to become friends. It’s incredible to see them working together; they have their own shorthand and seem to know what the other is thinking. I’m so grateful for them. I had to raise them to be nice to people because we have so many visitors, but I do not for a second doubt that they would defend anyone on this farm from any threat, whether from people or otherwise. I always caution visitors that I highly recommend not going onto a farm with two livestock guardians unless you know the family is expecting you. It’s their job to keep you out. I don’t want anyone to think that these two wagging tail greeters are normal.

We have listed a part-time summer position at the high school for a student in the Future Farmers of America program. We hope to do it every summer.

We ended up with six hens and two roosters from the project "Add Chickens to the farm." We took in a 7th hen who needed a home. A rooster needs 10 hens at a minimum. So, Sir is going to live on a farm with 30 hens, and Hal is staying here to oversee our girls. We added sex more chicks this spring and chose Sexlinks, which is a much better way to ensure they are hens. I love roosters, I really, really do. But I don’t want another one right now. Hal and 13 hens are enough for this year. In years to come, we’ll add a second hen house out in the pasture.

We are making another change to the donor software, and we hope and pray it is the solution we’ve been looking for. It will enable us to text-to-donate for emergency and rescue missions, manage our volunteers, and segment our mailings more effectively, while also allowing us to sell tickets, host events, and hold auctions. That said, we are considering a major fundraising idea for the fall. More details to come.

We have launched a new program called the Right Farming Initiative, and we will share more details on that soon too.

LOSES:

Our biggest loss last year was Sanjay. Period. Any other loss pales in comparison. Sanjay was born with a damaged front radial nerve and had the use of only three legs. We never found a prosthetic that would work for him. He got along fine on three legs, but we knew he wouldn’t be here for his full life span. Last spring, due to repeated torrential rains, Sanjay fell into the mud and damaged his good front leg, the one that supported him. We hired a prosthetic company to make a brace for his good (but now damaged) leg, and the entire process was a disaster. The brace maker was a nightmare, delaying his brace and leaving him to live on borrowed time. While we waited, we spent hundreds more dollars trying to find him a ready-made solution for a little support. We regraded his pasture. We built on a porch, doubling the size of his shelter and keeping the front of his house dry. We also built him a covered hay rack next to his porch and relocated his water. We had to hire a lawyer to get the brace, and when it arrived, it didn’t fit and wasn’t the same model we ordered. She refused to return our money, and, as far as I know, she didn’t return the grant funds applied to the purchase. We ordered the brace in July and had to say goodbye to Sanj in October.

Not a loss per se, but our financial situation remains precarious, and we continue to move forward towards the day when the tractor and implements are paid for so that we can stabilize.

I always delete updates as I make them, but from now on, I will move them to the bottom of the page.

You’ll find all past entries there in updates to come.

Listen to our story on the WORLD GONE GOOD PODCAST with Steve Silverman