An unruly mutt, a pair of white mice with pink tails and a tortoise that crawled into the ground with the first wind… those are the pets I hardly remember, but they cheered up my childhood years. After that, guinea pigs galore followed, my mother told me to choose the fattest one, which would be the healthiest, but after a few days we immediately had about five. And those creatures liked to see each other because there were many, many, so many that I handed them out at the school gate in kindergarten. Our Krulleke, as the name says, had curly hair, it was a small black poodle. Then I must have been about 8 years old, a sweetheart! No, not such a cut-to-shape model, rather one with a wilder look, but so soft on the inside, he was no less than eighteen years old. Goldfish, parakeets, canaries, chickens, hamsters, turkeys, turtles. The latter went with them, they stood in a children's pool on the stove and got steak and became gigantic. And in my room, or rather in the room of a friend, I met my husband Danny and he gave me, besides my two beautiful children, the best gift ever: Marie, a beautiful Dalmatian. With him we made endless walks around the Abbey of the Park, Heverlee and after a few years moved with us to Sint-Agatha-Rode. He was good friends with our blue parakeet who came flying to take a shower as soon as you opened the tap. The latter also picked up the leftovers of the children from their high chair. Two Flemish giants, the rabbits that is to say, were also given complete freedom here. They ran loose in the garden and went to sleep in the garage at night. The dog and rabbits often sent into the garden together, side by side. Chickens, always had. A lovebird has also flown around here. Not only in the house, also around the house and he kept coming back. He was my husband's best friend. When Marie died, a new dog, Louka, arrived soon after, now an eight-year-old dachshund.
In short, a small introduction, a bit big, to say that I love animals. As a child I dreamed of becoming a farmer, the farmer at the end of the street where I lived as a child taught me and my best friend to milk cows one day. I also never forget that we were allowed to pitch our tent with her during the summer holidays and camp on the farm. I always sat outside, preferably in nature: watching insects in meadows, climbing trees in bushes, rescuing tadpoles on wasteland, swimming in ponds, ... And to be honest, this was sometimes to the annoyance of my mother… Why didn't I want to do puzzles or play board games or read a book with my sister? (Late apologies to my sister, sorry, Inneke.) I did not become a farmer, a vet, which I also thought about for a long time, in the end not either. I studied languages (Dutch, French, Spanish) and obtained a pedagogical diploma. All my life I have been teaching with heart and soul. And then I got sick and thought, thought a lot. I am over 50, what would I still like to achieve. Nothing big, nothing special, nothing shocking ... But my decision was made, I wanted more nature and animals back into my life. Moreover, my children are now independent, Michiel is 20 and Anne-Lore will continue studying next year. They no longer need my daily care. And I signed up for a basic alpaca keeping course.
And then the ball started rolling. How nice it would be to be able to keep those animals for yourself. I regularly drove to Gingelom, where I followed the basic course, to learn more about the animals and to organize walks with them. How calming those animals are! I would like to pass on that peace to the campers on the meadow. Welcome!
