Greener Pastures Animal Sanctuary
Close to Home - love letters on film to the Central Coast
It’s been just over six months since I moved to the Central Coast, and I’ve accumulated a pretty large backlog of film I’m slowly getting through. Having traveled quite a bit, I still think this is one of the most beautiful places in the world. This is the first post in a series I’m calling Close to Home — my favorite places on the Central Coast, shot on film. Some, like Pismo Beach, are well known. Others are smaller, and many are family owned.
These photos are from one of my first months here, when I was on a streak of shooting as much black-and-white film as I could to bring into the darkroom at Cuesta. These photos are from Greener Pastures Animal Sanctuary in Arroyo Grande — close to where I live, and one of the first places I found myself wanting to come back to.
The woman in these photos is Diane, the executive director. She took me on a tour through all of the animals — horses, donkeys, goats, chickens, geese, and a couple of others I’m probably missing. She explained the scale of what it takes to keep a place like this running: feeds, cleaning, vet care, a rotating crew of Cal Poly student volunteers. But, the staff are so steady and easy-going, in part because of how peaceful a place like this is. I’m pretty sure my blood pressure lowered by 20 points. After being in hospitals with constant alarms and calls, I was so happy to spend time in fresh air here.
Diane talked about how they found this land and what it looked like when they first arrived. Wide open space. They built so much of the infrastructure and the buildings on the property. (This is what it looks like when people take care of something instead of over developing it for profit.)
When I was researching Greener Pastures before reaching out, I found this quote on their website: “Children trained to extend justice, kindness and mercy to animals become more kind, just and considerate in their relations to each other.” Having now visited a few sanctuaries like this one, I think the same is true for adults. The people who run these places are almost always the most genuinely good people I’ve met. I love seeing the animals. But it’s the people who have made this their life’s work that are the real highlights.
