Heart and Soul Farm is operated and owned by Brian and Marcia Voskuil. Marcia started this journey as a way to allow children to explore what it is like to live on a hobby farm. During the summer, Marcia would offer a series of camps which allowed children to participate in learning how to feed and care for the animals on the farm, as well as teach them how to enjoy being outdoors and with nature.
Marcia has been involved in the early care and education industry, as well as with adolescent services, for over 15 years. This path helped Brian and Marcia embark on their journey to become foster parents in 2019. As children started to stay with them at their home, Brian and Marcia started to see the positive impact that the farm brought the children in their care.
In the summer of 2020, Marcia piloted a new group program that focused more on the mental health aspect that these children were struggling to work through. Many of the children in this pilot program were dealing with years full of suppressed fears, emotions and anxieties. Weekly activities, games and one-on-one horse time allowed the children to start to connect with their surroundings on a deeper level as they worked through understanding their emotions and how they could use what they learned to continue on their healing path.
"To see how the horses reach and engage with each individual child was a true blessing. It amazes me how they touched the hearts of each of these kids. The fact that the children could just be with the horse and share some secrets that they were keeping in just melted my heart. That is the exact reason I have dreamed of doing this." - Marcia