This week on the FarmHouse podcast, we’re talking to Amy Marciano, founder of Sugar Mutts Rescue and Skymeadow Farm Sanctuary, a 501(c)(3) non-profit animal rescue in Greentown, Pennsylvania.

“I pretty much came out of the womb loving animals. It was just in my DNA,” Marciano said. “There’s a quote that I pretty much live by, it’s basically you can’t change the world by rescuing one animal, but for that one animal you change the world.”

Marciano started her work in Brooklyn, New York, where she founded the Sugar Mutts Dog Rescue in a warehouse. After about a decade in the city, she moved her operation to the Poconos region where she was able to give her dogs more room.

She then expanded her rescue to include Skymeadow Farm Sanctuary, where she began taking in farm animals from owners who are no longer able to care for them or who have been rescued from neglectful situations.

“I mean you spend any time around any farm animal, they’re just like dogs and cats. They really are, they have personalities,” Marciano said. “They’re intelligent. So that’s something that’s a gift to be around and to see that and know that they’re safe.”

In addition to traditional funding channels, Marciano helps fund Sugar Mutts and Skymeadow Farm by boarding horses on her property. She also owns two AirBnB rentals, the profits from which go toward funding the rescue operations.