What the Animals Taught Me is a collection of stories about rescued
farm animals in a shelter in Sonoma County, California, and what these
animals can teach us. Each story illuminates how animals can help us see
and embrace others as they truly are and reconnect us with the natural
world.
Wishing to escape the urban rat race, freelance writer and editor
Stephanie Marohn moved to rural northern California in 1993. Life was
sweet. She was a busy freelancer. In return for reduced rent, she fed
and cared for two horses and a donkey. Her life was full.
And then, more farm animals started to appear: a miniature white horse,
a donkey, sheep, chickens, followed by deer and other wildlife. Each one
needed sanctuary either from abuse, physical injury, or neglect. Marohn
took each animal in and gradually turned her 10-acre spread into an
animal sanctuary.
Each chapter of What the Animals Taught Me focuses on the story of a
particular animal that became part of Marohn's life. She shares what she
learned from the sheep she rescued from an animal collector, the abused
donkey she helped nurse back to health, and many others to remind us
that animals have much to teach us about love, compassion, trust, and so
many of the qualities we so often try to cultivate in ourselves.
A deeply inspiring collection, What the Animals Taught Me awakens our
hearts and reminds us that our best life teachers sometimes come covered
in fur.
