WORTH THE DRIVE
Story and Photos by Charlotte Kovalchuk
Simple Sparrow: Learn + Grow + Heal SIMPLE SPARROW CARE FARM • 1601 COUNTY ROAD 107, HUTTO 512-677-9102 • WWW.SIMPLESPARROW.FARM • PRIVATE VISITS START AT $45 Jamie Tanner chats with Dash, left, and Lindt.
Care Farm Provides Healing through Animals, Nature
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t Simple Sparrow Care Farm, visitors get to enjoy feeding chickens and petting goats amid beautiful scenery. But, this nonprofit organization provides more than just a wonderful taste of farm life. Simple Sparrow collaborates with schools, businesses, therapists, and other nonprofits to provide therapeutic farm education for all ages, backgrounds, and abilities. “Our mission is to learn, grow, and heal, and we believe when people are equipped to take care of all living things—the animals and the land—they are better equipped to take care of themselves and other people,” says Jamie Tanner, founder and president of Simple Sparrow. The farm also offers private tours to the public, in which groups and individuals can interact with 60 22
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animals; chickens, rabbits, cats, dogs, and pigs. But don’t miss their adorable and gentle mini horse, or the much different Jacopo; a grumpy but protective llama that guards the goats. In a stressful world, Simple Sparrow is an oasis —one simply cannot be stressed while cuddling a chick, petting a friendly goat or feeding a chicken out of the palm of your hand.
HOW IT BEGAN When Jamie and her husband Eric bought the farm in 2013, it was simply so Jamie could give her children the same experience she had growing up on a farm as a child. After years of hosting friends and family for events and meals, it became clear that
