By KARLA DOUGAN – Broadcast Editor
Sweet Olive Farm Animal Rescue began as a dog shelter in Atlanta, but has grown to become a prominent animal rescue group in the Athens’ community.
Sweet Olive Farm Animal Rescue is a prominent organization in Athens and Winterville areas, focused on providing homes for farm animals and educating the community about the social responsibility for the welfare of animals. The farm, however, was not always this way.
“(We started off) rescuing dogs in Atlanta. The houses are really close together, and we had 8 dogs living there,” Sweet Olive Farm Animal Rescue co-owner Kat Howkins said.
Howkins and her partner Susan Pritchett has been rescuing dogs since 2005. It was Fulton County Animal Control that eventually obligated them to find another location for their dogs and to get a permit.
“Our Bullmastiff, one day, jumped off the deck that was like 15 feet above the ground, and the neighbor called animal control because the neighbor was afraid that the Bullmastiff was going to eat her Chihuahuas,” Howkins said.
They had already started looking for a place out of town to put their dogs when the complaint to FCAC was filed. Local photographer Wren Allen mentioned the land in Winterville, now known as Sweet Olive Farm Animal Rescue.
“When we drove down the driveway, I was like, ‘This looks pretty cool,’ and then when we left, I said, ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m moving there,’” Howkins said.
Three weeks later, the couple moved to Winterville and officially established Sweet Olive Farm in 2010, named after their “not-so-sweet” dog, Olive.
“We got a special permit (for housing up to ten dogs,) and when the animal control officer came to give us the special permit, she said, ‘Doyou want a pot bellied pig?’ I was like, ‘Oh, we just rented that farm. We could take the pig!’” Howkins said.
Fulton County Animal Control also offered them a rooster the day that Howkins and Pritchett went to pick up the pig. Everything started from there.
“(Fulton County Animal Control) gave us a rooster, sheep, a goat, and it just started growing. They’ve started funneling all their farm animals that they found walking around Atlanta to here,” Pritchett said. “We get more and more animals all the time.”
The farm started off as a place where Howkins and Pritchett would house their dogs, but it grew to be much more than that.
“It was my dream to be a veterinarian, but when I was in the University of Georgia in 1974, I failed Chemistry 121, so there went my (Zoology) degree,” Howkins said. “So we came here and it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s never too late to have your dream come true!’”
Since June of 2010 when the farm first began, things have developed considerably. The farm has grown to house more animals including alpacas, geese, llamas, donkeys, goats and more.
“The mini-horses we got because they were in a really tiny environment and we went and purchased those,” Howkins said. “The donkey, Culprit, I’d gotten from this other guy who just didn’t want him. Then we’ve got a pig, Chloe, who’s family was from the British Virgin Islands. Chloe kind of rules this pasture where the dogs are. (Then the) turkeys and the geese we rescued because they were going to be sold to be eaten.”
As the amount of wounded and stray animals have increased, so have the amount of shelters.
“We ended up getting more animals so we realized we needed more things fenced. So slowly and gradually we just keep building more fences,” Pritchett said. “The donkey didn’t like the pigs so we had to get them away from them. You just kind of have to see how the animals interact and see what goes together.”
As the amount of rescued animals at Sweet Olive Farm has grown, so have the number of fences and shelters. In July of 2013, they built the barn, which was brought to Sweet Olive Farm from a farm in south Georgia.
“My friend James Askins moved (the barn) with a rag-tag group of guys and Ryder trucks. It just sat out in the pasture, of course, in July pouring rain. So we had all these tarps all over it. That was in July of 2013, but in April of 2014 it was finished,” Howkins said.
Howkins and Pritchett openly welcome people from the community into their home to volunteer and at the farm. With the help of volunteers, they have expanded the farm to house dozens of animals.
“We have volunteers, and we just had some come and make a hog house. Then we built a garden two years ago and the next year we made raised beds,” Howkins said. “I got two friends from El Salvador that come on the weekends, and they’re helping me winterize the barn right now.”
In addition to the growing number of animals, shelters and fences, the farm has become more well-known throughout the Athens and the animal rescue community.
“It’s just been (through) word of mouth. We’ve had a few articles written about us. There was one in the Southwest Georgia Magazine. We also have a Facebook, and we welcome people to come out,” Howkins said.
The farm also partners with educators and businesses in an effort to educate the community and encourage social responsibility for the welfare of animals. Through the farm’s educational outreach, children learn “how the animals came to be here, why they are not good pets, and what can be done to support the activities at Sweet Olive Farm Animal Rescue.” Volunteer Eric Griffith is a faculty adviser for Speak Out for Species, an animal advocacy student organization at the University of Georgia. This group visits the farm occasionally on volunteer days to help and to learn about the animals.
“(Sweet Olive Farm is) providing a great refuge sanctuary for these animals who had nowhere else to go and given them a really nice life. It’s a really great educational outreach to let people get face to face and hands-on contact with these animals,” Griffith said.
While Howkins and Pritchett manage the farm, both of them also juggle their full time jobs in Atlanta.
“It is kind of like our life now. So you get up and you’re on the farm for the morning and then you jump in your car and drive an hour and forty minutes or more, and you are in this totally other environment,” Pritchett said. “It is almost surreal. It’s great to make (life) balanced but can be challenging, though, just to go from this environment to that and just be totally different.”
Sweet Olive Farm does not fundraise as they are not an official non-profit organization. Howkins’ and Pritchett’s jobs are what pay for the farm’s expenses. However, within the following weeks Howkins and Pritchett are planning on filing for a 501(c)(3), which is the “portion of the US Internal Revenue Code that allows for federal tax exemption of nonprofit organizations,” according to the Foundation Group.
“Right now, we pay for it all. We do get some donations from very kind people,” Howkins said. “That’s our goal is to make it more sustainable, to be able to fundraise, so that people can deduct it from their taxes. As soon as we mail in the 501(c)(3) paperwork, then we will start fundraising.”
Despite the challenges, Howkins and Pritchett say they couldn’t imagine living any other way.
“I never pictured myself on a farm but now I love it,” Pritchett said. “We offer a forever home for an animal that needs one. We realized there was such a great need for farm animals to be rescued. We realized that that could be a great thing to do and we enjoy it, providing forever homes.”
Howkins and Pritchett hope to become an established non-profit organization and continue to develop the farm. They hope to foster a community where people can learn and come to respect animals.
“(Our goal is to) build more fences, build more barns, fundraise more and try to get the word out that we are here and become a part of the farm animal rescue group,” Howkins said. “These (animals) are like my kids, so it’s stressful sometimes, but it’s worth it.”
