Welcome to
The Blue Heron Ranch
Our Mission
BHR is a 501 (c) 3 Nonprofit Organization.
The mission of The Blue Heron Ranch (BHR) is to manage our 29 acre nature sanctuary where we provide a home for unwanted or medically compromised horses and dogs. We also are developing a self-sufficient intentional community at our nature sanctuary.
Meet Slim Pickens! He is the BHR Ranch Manager. He is a rescue dog with epilepsy.
Max setting a fence post, BHR, 2023
The Community Garden
at BHR
Milk and Meat Goats
What We Do
BHR owns and operates a 29-acre nature sanctuary in Cloudland, Georgia where we provide a home and medical care for eight horses, many of whom are geriatric.
Most of our horses have been a part of our equine therapy work over the years and several continue to serve as therapy horses. We also provide a home or rehoming services for multiple rescue dogs.
In addition to caring for horses, dogs, and our BHR herd of dairy/meat goats, BHR cares for the environment. As an organization we teach life skills to people wanting to live in harmony with Mother Nature.
After thousands of years of patriarchy, we believe it is important to balance the yin/yang energies in the world by working with all persons to empower the Divine Feminine energy within them. As we heal ourselves, we heal GAIA. We welcome and are in great need of donations to continue our work.
Another way we raise funds is by charging camping fees to camp at properties owned or managed by BHR. We also offer a cabarn lease program. A cabarn is half cabin, half covered parking for your RV or van.
The BHR horse barn was built in 2021 by all-women volunteer work crews who gathered together from across America during several BHR Volunteer Work Weeks. They came in response to our call for help with construction. We could not have afforded to build the barn so quickly or so beautifully without them. They will never be forgotten.
Other Offerings
Lida Simpson is the founding mother and current President of BHR. She established BHR in 2007 on her ranch in Northwest Arkansas. Over the years, BHR provided equestrian therapy and eco-psychology based nature programs for children and their families. After her retirement as a social worker, Lida relocated herself and the entire BHR entourage of horses and dogs to northwest Georgia where BHR purchased 29 acres in 2021 to serve as BHR’s first nature sanctuary fully owned by the non-profit.
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Stephanie Dallam, PhD - Stephanie is a retired nurse practitioner who has served on the BHR board since 2008. She has a farm in Kansas which she maintains as a nature sanctuary where she is converting pasture land to native grasses and other plants for wildlife including Monarch butterflies. She grows organic fruits and vegetables along with medicinal herbs for healthy self-sufficient living. She provides a home for many rescue animals. She is currently working on installing solar panels to help cover some of her electrical needs.
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Katherine Dallam - Katie is a woman with disabilities and an artist. She was formerly a psychologist who worked as a specialist in addictions. She has served on the BHR board since 2008. Katie likes to incorporate organic materials found in nature into her work. She is a strong advocate for the healing power of art and nature.
The BHR Board of Directors
Find The BHR on Facebook
The BHR Facebook Group is a private group with over 900 members and requires joining to participate. Click HERE to join the group.
The BHR Gardening Collective
The WOO (Woman Owned and Operated) Directory
Woo-hoo, welcome to WOO! The Blue Heron Ranch (BHR) is establishing this WOO (Woman Owned and Operated) Directory as a community service. Imagine a national network of women-
owned campgrounds or private parking spots offering safe, quiet places for nomads to journey. Imagine intentional women’s land communities or Golden Girls co-housing options blossoming
across America, offering alternative living concepts as we age. Earth shattering concepts, eh?
BHR's rescue dog HooDoo Jack says "HooDoo likes the WOO!"
The WOO Directory found on this BHR website offers information about services including businesses, housing, camping, and land communities that are at least 50% woman owned or operated. The WOO Directory is password protected and can be accessed by BHR members only.
The BHR is a small non-profit on a shoe string budget so tight we are considering switching to Velcro so we don’t lose a limb. Every listing in this Directory helps us offset the cost of this website and keeps this Directory available on a national level. It will require time and your support to grow The WOO Directory. Please consider a listing of your own. A yearly listing of 50 words or less is $40. Listings are free to non-profits or collective land trusts that are managed at least 50% by women. Listings of women’s events are free. If you have a qualifying free listing to make, please contact us.
To place a listing in The WOO Directory submit a Membership Application Form HERE. If you want to support the WOO Directory but do not want a listing for yourself or do not qualify as 50% woman owned, you may join BHR as a WOO WOO Member designating that you are paying for an annual listing in the WOO Directory for a woman who will then be able to list her business or service for free. This is called a “hanging” listing which BHR will be happy to pay forward to a qualified woman owned or operated business or service.
Fun and interesting events happening throughout the year at the Blue Heron Ranch are posted on our Events and Programs page. If you would like to give a workshop at BHR, we encourage you to contact us with your proposal.
BHR President Lida Simpson offers consulting on how to design and build your own cabarn. The photo above is of a cabarn in Kansas designed and built by Lida.