What the Animals Taught Me

Stories of Love and Healing from a Farm Animal Sanctuary

By: Stephanie Marohn

Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie

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.

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 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.

©2013 Stephanie Marohn (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Beautiful Writing and Stories

I loved this book! It was more spiritual than I was expecting and was exactly what I needed right now while recovering from the loss of a beloved animal. Beautiful, poetic writing and very emotionally engaging stories about the animals the writer has cared for in her sanctuary.

Heartfelt and important lessons

This is a woman’s heartfelt journey through raising and caring for a number of animals on her sanctuary. The stories are intertwined and there is a lot to learn, which she tries to pass along. The animals had a hard time just living their lives, sanctuary or no. These day to day struggles are endured by all animals, we just choose to not see them most of the time. This is a good book about respecting nature, animals, other people, and especially where everyone is in their own journey.