A care farm and nonprofit situated north of Applegate Lake, Sanctuary One has not only been offering farm tours, field trips and more to educate the community on farm life, but the organization is a vital partner for housing rescued animals, providing fresh crops for local food banks and more. 

Sanctuary One will resume offering farm tours May through October for people to see livestock like horses, goats and pigs up close while learning more about the care farm. 

“Everybody belongs in our community and has the opportunity to sit here, meet the animals and enjoy the sunshine,” said Megan Flowers, executive director of Sanctuary One. “As a care farm, our focus is connecting and our (vision statement) is ‘People, Animals & the Earth: Better Together.’”

Whether it involves rehabilitating rescue animals coming from traumatic circumstances or offering nature therapy for humans, the organization centers on finding harmony between humans and animals and building on symbiotic relationships.

“For those who are coming here for services, for job training, for animal therapy, for garden therapy, many of them have been told that they don’t belong in the community or don’t have value,” Flowers said. “We’re looking at the mutual healing that’s happening for the people, the healing with the Earth and with the animals.” 

“We do job training, vocational training, we provide field trips and we do public tours for the summer and love having people come out and meet the animals and see what’s happening,” Flowers added. 

For the farm tours, attendees will be able to see a variety of critters from goats to horses to pigs and more on the 55-acre farm. 

“We are taking in roughly about a little over 100 animals a year, so our population does change,” Flowers said. “We always have goats, we always have horses and we happen to have a mini horse here now.” 

Staff and volunteers at the care farm spend hours helping many of the animals to trust or re-trust humans, have a healthy diet and more with the eventual goal of getting them adopted. 

Some of the special animals visitors could see include 900-pound rescue pig Gumball, Gracie, a goat born missing one third of one of her hind legs or a mini horse named Lady. 

“Whether it’s alpacas or snoring Kunekune pigs or goats getting around, there’s always someone to see as well as the cats and dogs,” Flowers said. 

Sanctuary One also collaborates with 40-plus agencies in the region, including donating crops grown from its garden to the Teresa McCormick Center food bank in Medford. 

“We’re able to pick our fresh vegetables from our produce healing and learning garden and donate it and get it to people in need’s kitchens within 72 hours of being picked,” Flowers said. “So far, we have a ton of onions and tomatoes; we had over 1,000 onions planted the other day.”

The farm gardeners are also growing spinach, kale and other veggies and fruits. 

“My favorite thing is when I get to hang out with the youth, the students, here on the farm; that’s my background — education,” Flowers said of the school field trips to the farm. “Being able to see the joy in their eyes, they just light up and they love seeing the animals and playing in the dirt … kids should have the opportunity to connect to dirt, to connect to the earth and soil and the animals.” 

Sanctuary One has a staff of eight people, with five being full-time directors and three part-time workers as well as a lot of volunteers. 

“This is the first time in our history, and we’ve been around for 17 years, where we have a full-time director for every branch of our mission,” Flowers said.

The care farm is always looking for volunteers and has internship openings as well. 

“We have some established and really committed volunteers who come out on a weekly basis, mostly on the weekdays,” said Jake McKean, program director for Sanctuary One. “There is a need for more folks with Saturday and Sunday availability, and especially with young families who want to instill a sense of service into their kids, this would be a great opportunity.” 

“We have local internships available here too,” Flowers said. “Between our dog cottage, our cat cottage, all the fun stuff you can do in the barn and a ton of stuff to keep you busy right now in the garden, we really do rely on our volunteers.” 

To sign up for a farm tour, reach out to volunteer or intern or learn more about the care farm, visit sanctuaryone.org. 

Reach reporter James Sloan at james.sloan@rv-times.com.