“I’ve always had a love for animals. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to do something with horses and dogs. I adopted my first horse when I was 18, and have now adopted 5 more.

My passion in life is saving equines. So many people simply just don’t know that our American horses get slaughtered. Although they may not be slaughtered here in the United States, they are packed on hot trailers with no food or water and sent out of the country. I honestly can’t explain the feeling and relief when you have saved a horse from going to slaughter. I am most motivated by watching their progression, them learning to trust humans, and most importantly knowing that they will never have to be let down again.

My horses and their health and happiness are the most important things to me. Each and everyone of my horses have gone through something horrible in their past; I promised everyone of them that they will always only be shown love and care for the rest of their lives.”

Devan is the owner of Devan’s Canine and Equine Services .

For more information about Devan’s Canine and Equine Services, email her at: devantyack@yahoo.com

*Devan Tyack is Alison Standley’s daughter, another Grit & Grace woman

“I love being STRONG. I decided to follow my passion into the dirt work at 50. I practically begged my way into a crew job at a local organic farm. I was insanely happy and wept with pain many nights when I came home. After two years of farming I felt confident and was ready to start my own business helping people maintain or create their own oases of flowers, shrubs, butterflies, berries, and birds. Of course I continue to have a lot to learn... and will for my lifetime.

I love being WILD. To be a woman is to be a creator and nurturer of life on a very elemental, gritty, utterly committed level. The smell, feel, and taste of the soil takes me to a place of oneness with the Earth and of humility and communion with the microbes in the soil, the fungal web that carries messages between the trees for miles and miles, the worms that break down the leaves, the birds that feed on the worms. All I want is to be one of them, to play my part in the continuing, cyclical, profound act of creation that is life on Earth. God is in every atom of this work. It feeds my soul.

I can get stuck in depression and inertia, especially in winter. When I stay very busy, I am better. Hard work, fed by a passion, has saved me from the pit time and again. I need to be outside, experiencing natural forces, even if it’s freezing, soaking, and painful.

Though I can get discouraged, in the long run I can’t seem to stop dreaming. If you have hope and a dream,
you will find that the darkness always dissolves into the light of a new and wiser, more meaningful phase of life. At least that is what I have found.”

Nancy Henry is the Founder and Owner of Garden Nana, and also a pet sitter on Boston’s North Shore.