As the panda woke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed into some kind of monstrous bird. Crouched in a warm hump of feathers, it uncurled its long neck and faced forward, focusing its big doe eyes onto an indistinguishable ray of light. Confusion soon shifted into an uncontrollable anger and a craving to call the manager.
This is how I imagine Karen the emu was born. Her origin story, if you may. She currently resides on the Useless Farm and makes it a daily priority to cause havoc to her owner. We’ll dive into their lives, as well as the lives of the other animals living on the farm, but before we do, dear reader, let me ask you this - what would you do if you woke up one day and found you’d become an emu?
Your upvotes and follows are highly appreciated, so please keep them coming, and without further ado, let's get into it!
More info: Useless Farm | TikTok
The Useless Farm, lovingly named that by owner Amanda, has become a safe haven for rescued animals wanting to live out their lives in (relative) peace
Image credits: useless_farm
Ah, farm life… Early mornings, cuddly friends and lots of feeding the residents. One such place is named the Useless Farm - all the animals there are just living out their lives peacefully, for no other reason or purpose. “I think of it sort of as a retirement home for animals who people are done with,” Amanda, the 38-year-old owner, told CTV News Toronto. “We aren't a sanctuary or a rescue or anything like that - this is just our life.”
It has a lovely variety of characters. Poor Sweet Michael, an alpaca “with literal elevator music playing in his brain 24/7 and a consistent hay hanging out the side of his mouth.” Brad the silkie rooster, an “absolutely miserable piece of s**t that’s aggressive as hell.” And the star of today’s article, Karen the Emu - an “absolute b***h” that hates her owner Amanda “with every fiber of her being.”
However, one sassy emu, named Karen, is the opposite of sunshine and happiness, making it her life’s purpose to never-endingly attack Amanda
Image credits: useless_farm
Amanda has been documenting their lovely relationship on TikTok, and people can’t get enough of the hilarious yet fear-inducing interactions, as the emu keeps charging or biting at its owner every chance it gets. The only thing that seems to stop the bird is Amanda’s quick reflex of putting her arm out in time.
Karen was rescued from a zoo and has been living at the Useless Farm in Ontario, Canada, for 5 years now. Despite the generosity and love that Amanda shows her on the daily, the bird just can’t seem to chill. Karen regularly goes viral for charging full-speed at Amanda for what seems to be absolutely no reason. At the time of writing, the Useless Farm on TikTok currently has 4.8M followers, all curiously awaiting each new video.
Karen was rescued from a zoo and has been living on the farm for 5 years. Amanda calls her an “absolute b***h,” as she keeps charging at her
Image credits: useless_farm
"Karen, our emu is absolutely miserable, and we named Karen before Karen was even a thing, so I don't know if I manifested that," Amanda told Global News. Ironically enough, the name Karen, which originated in Scandinavia, means ‘pure.’ Must be pure evil in this case… Now, we do not endorse discriminating against people just based on their name, however, the emu may have taken the description a little bit too seriously.
There are multiple explanations of the name on Urban Dictionary, as it’s become quite the meme in the past decade. So Karen - “the middle aged white mother, responsible for the existence of the 'live, laugh, love' sign industry. Because Karens have no purpose in life they strive to make the lives of others miserable. Especially the life of minimum-wage workers. Karen's main source of information is Facebook.”
“We named Karen before Karen was even a thing, so I don't know if I manifested that,” Amanda said. The name has become a meme in the past decade
Image credits: useless_farm
The only thing that seems to stop the bird is Amanda’s quick reflex of putting her arm out, but even that isn’t a 100% guarantee for safety
Image credits: useless_farm
“She takes her job of stomping out my life very seriously," she told CTV News Toronto, adding that it's not uncommon for female emus to show aggression. According to the Emu Keepers and Breeders Community, emu temperament can vary from bird to bird. The females tend to be slightly more anxious, more so with each other, with the males being generally very docile.
There have been times when Amanda wasn’t quick enough to stop Karen’s rage. "She's definitely getting worse, but this is her cardio," said Amanda in a recent video. "Who am I to stand in the way of Karen's self care," she joked.
She also shared images showing herself with cuts and bruises over her face and arm - the handiwork of Karen. But despite the dangers, there is no way she would ever get rid of Karen. “Karen is my soul sister,” adding that she isn't sure anyone else could handle the sass.
A fellow emu, named Stanley, is the polar opposite of Karen. Whilst he's calm and snuggly, she “takes her job of stomping out [Amanda's] life very seriously”
Image credits: useless_farm
As emus cannot live alone - social animals, after all! - she is joined by a much nicer emu named Stanley. He is described on the official website as the “sweetest angel who’s ever existed.” He is also the king of interpretative dance and loves to snuggle and get his hair played with.
Amanda never planned on owning a farm filled with animals. "We definitely did not set out to do this. This is just a weird turn of events, but here we are," she told Narcity.
Image credits: useless_farm
Amanda never planned on owning a farm filled with animals, let alone becoming famous on TikTok. They currently have 4.8M followers and multiple viral hits
Image credits: useless_farm
Amanda grew up in the suburbs of Winnipeg with no farming experience, but ended up with a 44-acre farm which she runs on top of her full-time job in government services with the help of her family.
She started the account just to share “the daily craziness” of running a hobby farm, but that soon took off to new heights. "There were so many funny, really obscure things that happened here and so I wanted to share that with people, I wanted people to laugh and smile at these things like I do," Amanda told Global News. "The reaction from people online has been so amazing."
She started the account just to share “the daily craziness” of running a hobby farm, but that soon took off to new heights, even capturing Michael Bublé’s attention
Image credits: useless_farm
It even caught the attention of Canadian singer, Michael Bublé. Bublé duetted on a few of Useless Farm’s videos by pretending to be Michael the llama, just staring off into the distance while chewing on a tiny bit of hay or hiding behind a tree.
“When I saw that Michael Bublé dueted a couple of my videos, I laughed so hard. He’s such a good sport about it,” Amanda added.
Amanda’s incredibly grateful for all that she has, and we hope that their adventures continue for many more years to come!
Image credits: Useless Farm
What started as a way to connect with her family and friends through silly videos has turned into a viral sensation. But now Amanda’s working hard to find a balance between her full-time job, maintaining the farm, caring for her two children, and providing content for millions of people to enjoy. “It's a lot of work, but you have to make everything you do fun, right? I'm so thankful for all that I have.”
If you'd like to help support the Useless Farm, they have merch, as well as a mailing address and a PayPal account set up for donations. You can find all of the information here.
Watch one of the hilarious videos here - Karen will never stop, nor rest!
Let us know your thoughts on the farm in the comments below. Have you come across Amanda and Karen before? Also, don’t forget to answer the question posed at the very beginning of the article! Can’t wait to read your answers, and I bid you adieu!
People love the duo, albeit are a bit scared of Karen themselves. Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
