CLINTON, Ind. — What was once a traditional family farm in Indiana is now used to produce smiles and joy from visitors doing things like mingling with llama, chickens and other animals.

Aris Farm is the creation of Tracy Wilson, who inherited the property near Terre Haute about 20-years ago from her grandmother. Eight years ago the 55-year old U.S. Navy veteran decided she wanted to “share my animals.”

At the time, she was training horses and spent 15 years managing a herd of alpacas for the nearby White Violet Center for Eco-Justice.

Wilson, a current 4-H leader in Vermillion County for more than a decade, said she already knew about the mood uplifting benefits of being around animals and wanted to give other people that chance.

“I know how much of a big difference it makes.  If I can change one life, it’s worth it,” she said.

She began adding animals to the horses already kept on the 20-acre property. She now has 16 alpacas, seven llamas, 25 chickens, six goats and three pot-bellied pigs along with a miniature donkey and miniature horse.

She opened the grounds to visitors who are welcome to interact with the animals and take her llamas and alpacas for walks on a nature trail. Wilson said most of her visitors are grade school children on field trips but people in nursing homes and adult daycare facilities also show up in buses. Families and individuals also stop in for visits.

Youth camps for three days twice during the summer are also offered and feature activities such as games, rock painting and gardening. Children at camp also remove animal waste from the grounds and carry it in shovels to a compost pile for disposal.  

“There’s just a need for a place for people or kids or anybody to go that can experience all of these things,” she said.

In addition, there’s a barn on the property available for hosting family events like birthday and graduation parties along with weddings. Camping is offered in multiple areas designated for tents.

“They can pop a tent right in the alpaca pasture and there’s a fire pit there,” she said.

The farm also keeps animals for leasing to 4-H youth for showing during the county fair and educates the children on how to care for them properly. Instruction is provided on showmanship and getting the animals to clear obstacles in a practice course.

Wilson said she named the farm after Aris, her beloved Arabian filly horse she obtained in the sixth grade. After a six-year stint with the Navy, she temporarily moved the horse to a stable at Indiana State University where she majored in equine studies.

Aris died in 2015 at the age of 25 and is buried on the farm beneath a maple tree.

Wilson said one of the things she enjoys most about the farm is watching children react to her chickens and hold their eggs. She said some of the kids didn’t know eggs came from chickens or the carrots she pulled out of the ground are actually roots until after she tells them.

Her future plans call for building a pavilion and hiring her first person at the farm, which recently had a half dozen ISU students on a summer internship program remove an overgrowth of invasive plants.

The slogan at Aris Farm is “connecting humans to nature and animals. Healing hearts, one soul at a time.”

“We’re not a therapy center but the visits can be therapeutic,” she said.

The farm, which once raised cattle along with corn and soybeans has been in her family for over 100-years.