Hercules’ Haven begins with the story of Alison and Danny Stone who had a dream to live on a farm surrounded by animals. The family moved to the Lilly Street farm in Cedar Rapids in late 2015. In the spring of 2016, they welcomed a puppy. By September, Alison found two mini-pigs. Goats and mini-horse arrived soon after.
Hercules came to the farm as a one day old runt with his brothers in late October. Alison, Danny and their daughter, Issy, worked furiously to keep the boys strong, but two died by the end of the weekend. The Stones found their mission and the farm had a namesake.

Hercules’ Haven was founded in 2017 to be a place of healing and care for animals and people. That same year Hercules’ Haven welcomed two more pigs, a retired mare, another mini-horse and a cute little lamb.
In May 2019, Hercules’ Haven moved to its new home outside of Springville, Iowa. Now with 40 acres for animals, guests, and hay production, we have been able to rescue almost 60 individuals from abuse and neglect.
Stories from the Haven
Hercules’ Haven is Hiring
Position SummaryWe are looking for a dedicated and compassionate employee to provide for daily care needs of the sanctuary’s residents and support Hercules’ Haven’s mission. Duties and Responsibilities Barn and

Hercules’ Haven chose as participant for The Gazette Gives Back Program
𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞! 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬’ 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐! 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧

You did it! You helped Hercules’ Haven cross the 2020 finish line
You did it! You helped Hercules’ Haven cross the 2020 finish line. Happy New Year to You, friends, fans, supporters, and volunteers. You were with us when we welcomed new

Holiday Greeting from Hercules Haven
Happy Holidays Happy Holidays to the friends of Hercules’ Haven. May your celebrations of light, renewal, fresh-starts and family fill the darkest days of winter with joy and hope. Thank

Kindness Comes in ALL Forms
This past weekend kindness came in the form a collaboration between Animal Place, Hercules’ Haven, Inner Light Sanctuary, several good Samaritans, and a farmer who chose a humane option of offering 1,000+

Eat Like You Care: Buffalo Cauliflower “Wings”
Football fans eat roughly 1.4 billion chicken wings during the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, this comes at quite the cost for chickens worldwide. A farmed chicken’s life is not a life

Healing Broken Souls
By now, you have likely read or watched the news reports of the horrors that took place at Cricket Hollow Animal Park near Manchester. On December 9, following a lengthy

Finding Grace
Lead with Grace. That is my new tag line. For me, this means to meet each and everyone with love and kindness. My journey to plant-based eating has been a roller coaster.

Mini Horse Emergency
Friends, we had an emergency come up last night and are expecting a big vet bill. Can you help with a donation? Finnegan, one of our mini horses, suffered through an

Eat Like You Care: Vegan Foil Dinner
Is it the end of the week and you have a fridge full of veggies that if not eaten tonight will likely go bad and end up in the trash

Why I Volunteer
Everyone volunteers for a different reason. Every time I do, its for a different reason. Sometimes it’s a social component. I live alone and spend a lot of my time

Eat Like You Care: Taco Tuesday
Who doesn’t love Taco Tuesday? Today, I’d like to share my personal favorite recipe. No specific amounts of the ingredients is required, add ingredients as you like to fit your

Around The Haven
Another productive day at the Haven! Mary, Nicole and I started out the day with food prep. Lots of yummy greens this week! After food prep I spent some time

The Three Little Pigs
This is the story of Hercules’ Haven and the three four little pigs… On June 4th, a couple of pigs were spotted on the southwest side of Cedar Rapids. Cedar

Sometimes We Don’t Have a Happy Ending
This post is difficult, but it’s important. Today, our hearts are broken for a pig we never had the chance to meet. On our way home from purchasing hay for

The Haven’s Next Big Adventure
We have some exciting news! Hercules’ Haven has found its forever home just outside of Springville. We are proud to announce that our scrappy little farm animal sanctuary is moving

One Hundred and Twelve Days
It has been one hundred and twelve days since you left this world. One hundred and twelve very, very long days. So much regret, and so much sadness has plagued