Small businesses are an extremely crucial part of American Life because they are the lifeblood of our whole economy. Most businesses are small to medium in size and are the foundation upon which our entire country and economy was built. Please enjoy our new quarterly feature called “Small Business Spotlight” that highlights a small business in our surrounding area. This quarter our “Small Business Spotlight” is Our Farm Sanctuary located in Tipp City, Ohio.
Name/Title: Sophia Kartsonia | Director
Name of Business: Our Farm Sanctuary
Briefly describe your business: Aggy Road Farm was purchased by Mitch and Sophia in 2017. The original intention was for an artist of writers’ residency, but after a request to assist in the rescue of a few cats, Sophia met co-founder Lisa St Myers and a few cats became a few more cats, became some dogs, became a barnyard. Somewhere in there was even a late-night-polar-vortex-chickens-from-a-tree-rescue effort.
Our Farm Sanctuary was born to provide shelter, food, veterinary, and adoption services for rescued, unwanted, abandoned, and abused animals of all sizes, from domestic pet to farm animal and in-between.
When there’s nowhere for some animals, we try to be their somewhere. Those in need of responsible rehoming, those with special needs, the seniors, the injured, the ill, the unfortunate, all have a place here. Our residents include: alpaca, cats, chickens, dogs, donkeys, goats, llama, pigs, pony and a blind regal Tennessee Walker named John. They don’t have to do or produce anything. To find sanctuary with us, they have only to be valued.
When did your business start? January 2019
How did you get started in this business? It happened by accident but the two founding members had a lot of experience with rescue and bought the farm with the vet clinic.
Where do you see your business in the next year? In a year, it is our hope to have our Agatha Friskie Literacy Center and Senior Animals open to the public. It is a very special idea that allows kids to read to animals, and will include an area for books that help dealing with the loss of an animal, as well as the chance to paint a stone or learn how to write an elegy (poem to honor the departed) as a means of processing loss through language and art. More music, writing and arts will be joining our animals in a mission of making things better and restoring our community instead of neglecting or abandoning those in need. We hope to have a lot more volunteers, and the sponsorship to be able to pay a couple of our people who want to make this their primary job. We are young, but hopeful.
How has Greenville Federal helped your business grow? We share the same community beliefs and care. GF became a part of the farm fam by being involved with their GF Gives Back initiative.
What is the one thing about your business that people may not know? It’s ran with just volunteers.
What is your favorite thing to do when you are not working? I love to write and love the arts.
To learn more about Our Farm Sanctuary, please follow them on Facebook by Clicking Here.
