Aspyn Acres offers sense of belonging to animals and volunteers

Joey Mullins goes out to Aspyn Acres about once every two weeks to volunteer and help clean the farm sanctuary. He finds solace there.

While Aspyn Acres’ mission is to tend to wildlife and offer sanctuary for farm animals in need, it also offers a chance for members in the community to volunteer and interact with animals they normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to see.

Aspyn Acres, which is located just north of Waseca, started as a wildlife rehabilitation after it’s owners Chasity and Jake Marquette became permitted wildlife rehabilitates in 2020. Since then, they have also added a farm sanctuary onto the land, helping farm animals in need.

Mullins and Unique Abilities

Mullins was born in South St. Paul and grew up in Wichita, Kansas. He now resides in Waseca and works as a professional cleaner.

When he was a teenager in Kansas, he used to work on a farm, which involved doing similar things he does while volunteering at Aspyn Acres. While it reminds him of his work as a teenager, volunteering at the sanctuary also helps him take his mind off things.

“It’s good for your mental health,” he said.

Mullins pointed out that helping on the sanctuary is a good way to get him out of the house. He noted that it is hard for him to volunteer at places because he is introverted.

“I’m not really able to volunteer for anything, because I’m people shy, and I don’t like putting myself out there,” said Mullins.

Mullins is a client of Unique Abilities, LLC, which is owned by Jennifer Lenz-Cassidy and Ashley Barlow. Unique Abilities is an in-home agency based in Waterville that promotes person-centered growth and independence for people with disabilities and mental health conditions.

Unique Abilities’ affiliation with Aspyn Acres all started when Lenz-Cassidy was looking for her own place to volunteer. She saw something on Facebook about Aspyn Acres and went out and met Chasity Marquette.

After volunteering a couple times, Lenz-Cassidy thought the farm sanctuary would be a great place for clients of Unique Abilities to visit. She took small groups of individuals out to the sanctuary a little over a year ago, and they loved it. It soon became a regular thing for groups of clients to stop by and see the animals.

On top of visiting the farm sanctuary, clients of Unique Abilities also make and donate tie blankets for animals on the rehabilitation side of Aspyn Acres.

“The blankets are an activity that a lot of them can just sit and enjoy,” Lenz-Cassidy said. “If they’re having a day where they’re depressed or something, they can just take their mind off things.”

Along with sending clients out to the sanctuary to visit and volunteer Unique Abilities also sponsors some of the animals on the sanctuary, including a turkey named Elvis.

By sponsoring animals, the agency provides Aspyn Acres with money that will go towards feeding and caring for the animals.

“We like to give back to our community and help when we can,” said Lenz-Cassidy. “It just gives all the clients a sense of purpose.”

Mullins was one of the clients that visited Aspyn Acres and the animals. He loved the sanctuary so much that he ended up cleaning the barn. Later, he helped out in the aftermath of Aspyn Acres’ Halloween fundraiser, cleaning with Lenz-Cassidy. Mullins’ and Lenz-Cassidy’s volunteer work soon became a regular fixture.

“When we first came out here, there was a mound up in there, and they had to get a skid loader and get it all out, but we try to maintain it now,” Lenz-Cassidy said about the barn.

Mullins is able to volunteer at Aspyn Acres, due to the animals always wanting attention and the owners’ welcoming spirit.

“We do it for the animals,” Mullins said.

Chasity and Aspyn Acres

With the Marquette’s having both the farm sanctuary and rehabilitation on their land, Aspyn Acres is really an umbrella term — two separate operations.

Aspyn Acres started due to the Marquette’s love of animals and the loss of their child Aspyn. In honor of her, they planted Aspen trees around the property and decided to get the property licensed as an official wildlife rehabilitation center through the Minnesota DNR. Aspyn Acres was permitted in 2020 but was not made public until 2022.

Through the wildlife rehabilitation center, the Marquettes get calls about animals who are hurt and they raise them up to be eventually released again.

Aspyn Acres also has a wildlife rescue team that is based in Mankato. Fifty-seven people are part of the group and help in rescuing and transporting animals that can be a little more dangerous.

At the farm sanctuary, the Marquettes take in animals that need ongoing veterinarian care that other farms don’t want to deal with. Aspyn Acres has the funding to treat animals with the vet care they need. The sanctuary has animals that come from all sorts of different situations.

Sometimes the Marquettes get calls about animals that are not a fit for the sanctuary, usually because they don’t have the proper living conditions for certain species and breeds. Because of this, Chasity networks with other sanctuaries to see if they are able to house the animals.

There are a total of 37 animals on the sanctuary, including four different types of cows, two mini donkeys, three sheep, six goats and two emus.

Aspyn Acres has been successful in recruiting volunteers to help out at the sanctuary, whether it’s cleaning or helping prepare for upcoming projects and events.

“A lot of them say they love animals, but they can only have a cat or a dog, so coming out here, they get to interact with all sorts of everything,” Chasity said. “Just like us, animals have their own little differences, and it’s important for everybody to acknowledge that.”

Along with volunteering, Chasity encourages people to come out to the sanctuary just to interact with the animals. Among 15 acres of land, there are 3.5 miles of trails people can walk on — sometimes even with goats following them.

“We encourage anybody, even families to come out so that they can be around the animals,” Chasity said. “It can be therapeutic.”

LEARN MORE To find out about upcoming events and general information about Aspyn Acres, Chasity Marquette encourages people to visit their social media pages, especially Facebook . Once the spring season gets underway, the sanctuary and wildlife rehabilitation center plans on hosting multiple events for people to visit the animals. “We don’t have something like this around here,” said Chasity. “We don’t have a farm sanctuary anywhere close that does all this kind of stuff.” 2f28fbca-b593-4dcd-83df-e6f05234b0a7