“We started with focusing on the animal part of it,” she said. “And then I’ve always had anxiety and depression. It runs in the family, I guess. But I noticed my mental health was improving after we had gotten the animals. I was happier, and life wasn’t so bad.” “And then, I decided that if he’s helping me, it’s got to help other people. That’s when we opened the farm to people of all abilities, all backgrounds here.” She now hosts reading nights for children to come to the farm and read to the animals. These animals don’t judge pronunciation. They sit and listen, waiting for the next pat on the head or scruff under their ears. “They (animals) don’t care what kind of background you have or what you’re going through as long as you’re present in that moment,” she said. “That’s all they care about.” Wilhelm-Atkins has noticed how some animals gravitate toward certain people. Jack, the goat, gives her gray hair because of his attitude, and yet, he’s gentle as can be when one teenager comes out to read him a “Curious George” book. “And Jack’s pretty curious, too,” she said. “Every time she comes out, she brings a new “Curious George” book, and they sit out in the little goat lean-to and he just stands there. That is the only person he will do that with.” As we walked through the fields, Wilhelm-Atkins stopped to tell each animal’s story. There’s Loaf, the pig, that everyone who’s ever visited the farm sanctuary seems to know. “No cookies,” Wilhelm-Atkins said, as Loaf sauntered toward us in the barn. “He’s supposed to be on a diet, but we know how that goes.” She leaned down to rub his black and tan wiry fur to which he raised his little pink and black snout in approval. Loaf is perhaps the best known of the animals at the farm sanctuary. He’s so well-known that he’s often featured in fundraisers as people kiss Loaf. Not that he minds, of course. The more attention he gets, the better in his book. Loaf came from a nonprofit in Arkansas during the pandemic. He was just a wee little piglet back then. He’s so well-known in Murray that he’s regularly featured on the farm sanctuary’s Facebook page, and he even got a special treat on Murray’s unofficial first day of spring holiday - the opening of the local Dairy Queen. And he makes appearances on the Murray State campus for pet therapy, and he steals the show. Some of the other pigs came from animal shelters. One pig came from a tornado victim’s home in Mayfield. PIGS HERE. They have seven goats, horses, a donkey, chickens, turkeys, bunnies, and barn cats. “Everything is something that needed a home,” she said, including her late mother’s mini-horse named Dakota. “They were a pair, you know,” she said of Dakota and her mother. “When she passed, he went through a grieving process. But that’s also about the time that we started to have people come out and visit. So not only were they helping him get through it, he was helping me to see how everything kind of works here.” Pre-vet students from Murray State come to the farm to help with feeding and care of the animals, as well as their socialization. Wilhelm-Atkins said it costs $30 per animal for feed a week or about $250-$300 a week for all the animals. That’s not including vet bills or other care-related expenses. 32 APRIL 2024 | INTHEVUE.COM They (animals) don’t care what kind of background you have or what you’re going through as long as you’re present in that moment,” she said. “That’s all they care about.”
