Rescued goats look for some love from visitors at Sanctuary One in the Applegate Valley.

Situated in the Applegate Valley near Applegate Lake and filled with rescue animals, Sanctuary One’s mission is not only to heal and rehome critters, but to let humans and animals heal and grow together while getting away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

The 55-acre farm was started in 2007 as the first care farm of its kind on the West Coast, offering non-clinical therapy sites where visitors of all ages can learn, heal and work in the serene, partially-forested area.

Whether one is healing from trauma or just seeking a soothing day of meeting new animals and learning about the farm, Sanctuary One offers a space for mutual growth between humans and other animals.

With the warm months of the year back, Sanctuary One is continuing its bi-weekly farm tours, allowing visitors to be guided around the care farm and meet the herd of rescued animals and house pets while learning about how a care farm works.

Some of the creatures farm tour attendees will have the opportunity to meet include Gumball (a 900-plus-pound rescue pig), multiple goats, chickens, cats, dogs and more.

The farm tours run from April to October, with tours happening on Friday and Saturday mornings.

“Every Friday and Saturday at 10:30 a.m., people can sign up online and come out to the farm and it’s a great chance to spend the day in Applegate,” said Megan Flowers, executive director of Sanctuary One. “It’s about finding way to connect in nature and what we have around us.”

Tour tickets cost $10 per person, ages two and under can take the tour for free. Proceeds aid the nonprofit care farm in paying its staff, providing for the plants and animals on the property and funding other farm needs.

To make farm tour reservations, visit sanctuaryone.youcanbook.me.

The farm currently has 61 animals, with many cats and dogs at the property available for adoption. To see the numerous animals available for adoption, visit sanctuaryone.org/rescue-animals/adopt-us.

Sanctuary One has a three-pronged approach to its organization, finding connection through providing refuge for animals in need, healing humans and addressing trauma through caring for animals and promoting environmental stewardship.

That extends into creating an inclusive space that can be accessed and enjoyed by attendees of all abilities and backgrounds.

“If we can find ways to break down that privilege and make it accessible, then I feel like more people get to feel that Oregonian spirit,” Flowers said.

The farm hosts expanded accessibility tours to better serve visitors who might require extra attention or care.

Collaboration is another key focus at Sanctuary One.

Some of that work includes collaborating with 30 different agencies and organizations to take in animals during the wildfire season, provide housing for animals of all kinds and more.

“Our DNA is collaboration,” Flowers said.

That collaboration extends to the nonprofit’s volunteer network with around 25 current volunteers dropping by to tend to the animals, gardens and other needs.

Beyond just the farm animals and pets, the 55-acre property has multiple gardens to not only grow nourishment for the animals, but to provide food to be donated to ACCESS food banks in the region.

“We have our healing and learning garden, and we have our permaculture garden in front of the house and office,” said Jess Mealy, the earth care manager at Sanctuary One. “I really love finding the connection between how do we connect the land to the animals, the animals to the land, the people to the animals.”

Staff at Sanctuary One are always seeking ways to connect their three-pronged focus, such as Mealy and other gardeners tending to comfrey plants that will eventually feed some of the farm animals, connecting the plants and the animals of the farm.

“We serve well over 1,000 people a year and those are through the service learning, through the animal therapy, the garden therapy or job training that we do,” Flowers said. “People know us from the animals because they’re cute, but it’s much more than that. It’s taking people, animals and earth and its finding the whole of the sum.”

To learn more about Sanctuary One, donate to the nonprofit or seek out volunteer opportunities at the farm, visit sanctuaryone.org.