We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brittney Kane. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brittney below.

Brittney , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

When I started Foreverland Farm I didn’t really have a great idea of what I was getting myself into. I knew I wanted to help animals, and I believed I could make a difference in their lives because they had such an impact on mine. I started riding horses when I was five years old, and I was obsessed. I spent all of my free time at the barn, and my parents always encouraged and supported my love of all animals.

As I got older I went through a tough period of my life for a few years and I lost my horse I had at the time and it was really just all around a devastating time. When I finally got myself out of that dark shadow the one thing that was missing from my life was horses. I began riding again and found my soul horse Booger. I was working full-time, living alone, and going to college full time but I knew that I needed him in my life just as much as he needed me. I adopted him knowing that he wasn’t seen as a valuable horse in the eyes of the horse industry and that he could eventually end up in a bad situation. He had a lot of medial needs and was going to eventually lose one of his eyes. I was determined to make it work, and I did. I worked a lot and all my money went to him. But it was worth it.

During this time I began to learn more about the horse industry and what happens to horses like Booger when they are no longer “useful” or become a “problem”. Horse slaughter isn’t legal in the United States, but that doesn’t mean that horses in America don’t end up there. Thousands of horse cross the borders to Canada and Mexico every year for slaughter, and the more I knew the more I wanted to do.

I learned about other animal sanctuaries that not only rescued horses, but other animals that are often overlooked like chickens, goats, sheep, pigs, etc. I wanted to follow that path and help animals that don’t often have an option. Foreverland was truly born in February of 2018, but by then I had already started rescuing. I met my now husband Sawyer, who was willing to support me in this journey and together we started officially by rescuing two more horses and a potbelly pig names Milton.

Looking back on the early days, we had no clue what we were doing. No money. No land. But, we made it work and the animals never went without.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I grew up loving animals, horses in particular, but I was always the kid who was outside finding bugs and reptiles. When my mom got me into horse back riding lessons when I was five, I never left the barn. When I got older I adopted a horse named Booger on my own and I was determined to give him the best life possible. I began to learn more about the plight of horses and how many horses are still sent to slaughter each year. This led me to learning more and more about other farmed animals and I started a small sanctuary of my own where I began to take in vulnerable farmed animals to give them a chance at life.

Over the years we have created an amazing organization fueled by the love and care of incredible individuals. We have saved hundreds of animals and given them a home they otherwise wouldn’t have had. Through social media and in person events we share the stories of our rescued animals to help change the way they are perceived in the world in hopes to create a more compassionate world for them.

How’d you meet your business partner?

The co-founder of Foreverland, is actually my husband Sawyer. We met in college where we were both studying social work. At the time I had two horses and three dogs all that I had rescued on my own. Sawyer had never been around animals, and only had one family dog growing up. I am not sure that he knew what he was getting into, but he never hesitated when I told him my vision for starting a sanctuary.

We bought our first small farm in November of 2016, the year we got married. We had absolutely no money and Sawyer got a second job to help pay for the bills at the sanctuary. He worked for years to make sure we had everything that we needed while I worked on growing the organization and becoming self-sustaining.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I take the well being of our team very seriously. I have worked to ensure that I can pay them a living wage, and make sure they are satisfied with their job responsibilities and anything they want and are interested in outside of work. Here at the sanctuary we deal with a lot of loss and grief. We see a lot of the worst of humanity but we also cultivate hope. One thing we have implemented the last year is starting a grief counseling group for both our staff and volunteers. Each month we have a licensed therapist lead a grief group that helps connect our team and help care for the mental load this job can take.

Another thing we do here is have monthly potlucks. This was started by the team, they wanted another opportunity to get together where we could talk and relax over good food. We have kept up the tradition for the last five years now and it’s truly built in such a strong sense of belonging and community here.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.foreverlandfarm.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foreverlandfarm/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foreverlandfarm