MY STORY
​
I’m Evelyn Hunter, founder of HALOE Healing Sanctuary. My path has always been one of service—from advocating for women as a human rights attorney, to founding a farm animal sanctuary, to holding sacred space for healing of all kinds.
​
My journey into healing work began 20 years ago when I experienced the effectiveness of alternative medicine and began delving into the modalities I practice. Years later, while caring for my father in hospice, I saw firsthand the power of presence and touch to ease suffering. That moment opened the door to massage therapy, where I could offer compassionate, skillful care to others in pain.
​
I became a Medical Massage Therapist, and discovered the key to myofascial pain release - Dr. Janet Travell's extraordinary work on trigger points. I then became a double-certified Coaching the Body Advanced Trigger Point Practitioner, specializing in the intricate and complicated relationship between the central nervous system and active, latent and referral trigger point patterns. I specialized in treating athletes and clients with chronic hand, elbow, neck, shoulder, back, hip, knee and foot pain. Still, I knew there was more to the healing picture.
From my time as a paramedic, I retained a comprehensive understanding of the systems of our body and the causes of dis-ease, and my intuition knew that true healing required more than releasing trigger points- without adjusting the cause of the dysfunction and the perpetuating factors, the pain would return. Releasing the pain in your muscles is the easy part! Keeping it released is the challenge.
I spent the next 3 years immersed in studying how to end the perpetuating factors, including posture correction, repetitive action modification, and down-regulating the central nervous system through Vagus Nerve Activation techniques (relaxation massage, essential oils, vagus nerve stimulation, breath work, visualization, mindfulness meditation, body scans, energy awareness, sound healing, art and animal therapy, forest bathing, and gratitude practice). From this wide breadth of knowledge I created my unique blend of modalities that heals your myofascial pain at the root cause.
Our sister company, the non-profit HALO which treats trauma survivors, was born from both devotion and deep loss. A tragic barn fire claimed many of our sanctuary animals, and while trying to save my babies, I had a near death experience that changed my life. From the ashes, I emerged even more committed to this work and learned the powerfully healing effect of somatic trauma release—knowing that healing is not about fixing what is broken, but remembering what is whole.
​
This sanctuary is an offering of my heart. A place where you are seen, held, and gently guided back to yourself. I look forward to creating a healing partnership with you!
​
Kindly,
Evelyn
EDUCATION
Pepperdine University School of Law, J.D.
University of Illinois, B.A.
First Institute, L.M.T.
St. Anthony's Medical Center, E.M.T.
Coaching the Body Institute, Trigger Point Practitioner
The Embody Lab, Somatic Healing Process
Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village, Mindfulness Meditation Training
Suren Shrestha's Traditional Tibetan Sound Healing Methods
The Scottish School of Herbalism
DONA Birth and Postpartum Doula Trainings
​
​
Education ​
Meet Our Fur Family
Living their best lives in forever freedom
HALOE Healing Sanctuary began as Mulberry Hill Farm Animal and Mindfulness Sanctuary in 2009, when we bought a rambling old farm in Capron, Illinois and inherited 14 barn cats and 2 beautiful peacocks left in our barns by the previous owner. By 2017 it had expanded to have become home over the years to 187 horses, cows, alpacas, sheep, goats, farm pigs, potbelly pigs, cats, dogs, ducks, chickens, guinea hens, geese, peacocks, and bunnies. Not one, but two barn fires - the nightmare of every farmer - struck us after we had just completed renovations on both barns. 79 of our feather and fur friends lost their lives on those tragic days. During the second barn fire Evelyn had a near death experience when she was trapped in the burning barn trying to save her babies. That experience and her personal rising from literal ashes gave birth to our not-for-profit HALO Healing Sanctuary for women.
​
We are a living example of the fictional mixed-species herd of animals in the movie ICE AGE - a collection of abandoned friends who now call each other family, regardless of if they are a human, pig, cat, or goat. HALOE is home to those who survived the fires and a few new friends who have joined us in their desperate time of need: 3 gentle giants (9 year old farm pigs Dahlia, Batman, and Willow, weighing from 400-1200 pounds); 2 10 year old abandoned goat brothers (Hops and Bucky) and their adopted potbelly pig brother Oscar (also 10); 8 cats (Fudgie, Princess, Beauty, Tabby, Tesla, Indie, Batcat and Kitten), one potbelly house pig (Gracie, 5), and our newest family member - a KuneKune piglet - named Haloe, of course. Enjoy their life stories below.
OUR 3 GENTLE GIANTS - DAHLIA, BATMAN AND WILLOW
DAHLIA
Dahlia came to us in the spring of 2016, our first big pig. We received a call from Champaign Animal Control asking for help rehoming an abandoned mini-pig piglet. It seems the owner didn't realize that he had actually bought a farm pig piglet - who grows to be up to 1200 pounds (this is the same story as that of Esther the Wonder Pig!). The director of the facility loved this sweet little girl and didn't want her to be slaughtered, so he frantically tried to find her a forever home, and we agreed to take her. Two dear friends of ours made the trip to Champaign to pick her up and bring her home to us. She was an adorable little armful, full of curiosity and love. She has a keen intelligence and intuition rivaling a human's - there is no getting anything past her - and it was that intelligence that helped her lead the surviving pigs out of the burning barn and into the safe far corner of the pasture that tragic blizzardy Halloween night. She is the matriarch of her herd and we will forever be grateful to her for her bravery and leadership that protects them every day.
BATMAN
About 4 months after Dahlia joined our family, we got a phone call from our friend Tobein at Wedrose Acres Animal Sanctuary near Peoria. She needed to find a home for 3 young farm pigs who had been lovingly raised by a 7 year old 4H girl who had not been told by her dad that her babies would be sold at auction the last day of the fair to be butchered. The little girl had a nervous breakdown when she found out that her babies would be killed, and her mom's best friend bought the pigs at auction to save them - paying full price - even though he lived in an apartment in Peoria and had no place to keep them. They were due to be slaughtered in 3 days if a home was not found, so we agreed to take them in to be friends for Dahlia and show this little girl with a big heart that she was right - that animals deserve to be loved, not eaten. We called these sweethearts The Three Amigos - Batman, Robin, and Alexis. Batman is the kindest, most laid back, giant Clifford puppy dog who loves tummy scratches, all humans and other animals. He is the Head of the Herd because of his brute strength (and tusks). Sadly, Alexis died in the fire and Robin died shortly thereafter from smoke inhalation damage to her lungs. Our angels forever live in our hearts.​
WILLOW
Around the same time that we got the call to rescue The Three Amigos, we received a call from Bloomington Animal Control asking for help rehoming a tiny piglet about 3 weeks old who had jumped off and escaped from a transport truck on the interstate and somehow survived. She had jumped with her sister, probably to get back to her mom whom they had just been taken from. Sadly, her sister died from her injuries but Willow survived. She came to us severely scraped and bruised, but with the kindest, sweetest heart and personality even through the awful trauma that she had survived. She adopted Dahlia as her new mom right away and has been by her side ever since. Although she has grown to be ginormous - over 1000 pounds and 2 feet longer than Dahlia and Batman - she is still the baby of the 3, lighthearted, sweet and trusting, and tries to cuddle in Evelyn's lap like she did as a piglet.
GRACIE ANN
2 months after the barn burned and 20 of Evelyn's babies (19 potbellies and one big pig) died in the fire, Evelyn decided it was finally time to rescue a disabled pig in need of help. Several weeks later, she found an extremely sick piglet who no-one wanted to adopt at Gracie's Acres Sanctuary in Tennessee. This piglet had been a victim of a severe hoarding situation, with horrible mange, chronic pneumonia, malnourished, and seizures. We drove the 18 hours down and back in 2 days to get her a few days after Christmas, and named her Gracie after the Sanctuary who saved her. It didn't take us long to bring her back to health, and she was happy and healthy until a vet subluxated her shoulder while trying to flip her to trim her hooves. We immediately took her to UW Madison Veterinary Hospital, where they told us to euthanize her as her shoulder would never heal. Evelyn thanked them for the advice and took her home to care for her - and 3 years later she is thriving with an occasional limp if she runs too much. When it comes to healing we never, never, never give up on the body achieving its homeostatic healing state. Gracie's middle name, Ann, was named after Evelyn's mother Ann, who loved Gracie very much, and who died suddenly at the age of 93 in Evelyn's arms on February 7, 2023.
THE THREE BROTHERS - OSCAR, BUCKY AND HOPS
In the fall of 2023 we received a call from a neighbor who wanted to get rid of her potbelly pig Oscar that she had had for 5 years. It was her only pig amongst a large herd of goats, and she had a dirt lot and an unheated barn. She had seen our happy pigs in our pastures and knew we would give him a wonderful loving home. Pigs need a grass pasture and a heated barn in the winter, and as he looked like the uncanny twin of our dear Sebastian who had died in the second barn fire, we immediately said yes. Then we discovered that Oscar's only friends were 2 Nigerian Dwarf goats, Bucky and Hops, whom he had been with since he was a piglet - 9 years earlier. You see, our neighbor was their second family. Their first family had moved to Florida and had to leave their animals behind, so they gave them to our neighbor. Since the 3 little friends had already been through so much upheaval and sadness in their lives - losing their first real moms, then their second human "mom and dad" and now their third human "mom", we offered to take all three to keep the bonded little family together. She agreed. Their first few weeks here were heartbreaking as they called everywhere looking for her - as happens when an animal is abandoned, they don't understand where their family is. We thought Oscar would be a friend to Gracie, who was our only small pig, and we thought he would love being around other pigs for the first time in his life. Surprisingly, while he is interested in the other pigs, he still thinks he is a goat and chooses to hang out with his goat brothers in the barn instead of in the house with Gracie. The 3 now have a cozy heated bedroom in a warm pen in a barn for the winter, and a charming little house under the old walnut tree for the sunny days of summer - both adjacent to their own private 1/3 acre pasture under the pine grove. Oscar is a friendly, wise, strong old pig, the clear head of his little herd. Bucky and Hops are curious, incorrigible, sweet and affectionate, following us everywhere and offering constant goat kisses.
HALOE - OUR KUNEKUNE PIGLET
On October 5, 2023, Arwen, our beautiful, sweet golden retriever and the last of our pack of 6 dogs over the past 30 years, died in Evelyn's arms at the age of 14 years, 8 months. Grief is love with nowhere to go, and Evelyn stayed up late into the night looking for a dog who needed a home. Across her FB feed came a post advertising an adorable kunekune piglet being sold as a "bacon seedling". Determined to not allow this sweet piglet to be butchered, the next morning Evelyn drove 4 hours roundtrip to bring home the sweetest, funniest, most friendly, loving and genuinely kind little piglet we have ever had - the perfect therapy pig. And so we named her Haloe, after our sanctuary, and she became our new mascot. Haloe cried for her mom and brother for days, searching the house for them, and Evelyn soothed her by playing a video she took of them before they had left. Haloe now follows Evelyn everywhere, snuggles to sleep with her at night, and is loved and cherished as much as she deserves to be. She has keen hearing and a keen sense of smell, hops like a silly bunny with her floppy ears and is as furry as a little Ewok. Haloe is eager to be the BFF of her big sis Gracie, who is still adjusting to sharing the snacks and attention with a new piglet, as big sisters do.
OUR CAT FAMILY
It all began with Fudgie, our very first rescue from a farm down the road, in 2007, and she is still with us today, through a cross-country move, kids growing up, and quietly watching as almost 200 animals have come and gone. Fudgie was joined in 2009 by 14 feral cats including 6 kittens we found abandoned in a barn on the farm we had just bought - Princess is the last of those kittens and cats. In 2012 we rescued Beauty and Jasmine as tiny feral kittens from frigid weather near Chemung. On Christmas Day in 2016 someone dumped a loving, beautiful, emotional and vocal - and pregnant- cat at our farm and we found her in the milk house begging to be loved. We named her Holly, and soon thereafter she gave birth to 6 adorable kittens, and we vowed that we would keep the family together as a family should be. A few months later we agreed to keep Sunny and Tabby, a bonded pair of middle-aged rescue cats, for 2 weeks while their owner found a new apartment. Sadly enough, this owner abandoned them as well, so this is now their forever home. And so our cat family was complete.
Batcat, 9, one of Holly's kittens, was Evelyn's best friend as a little boy, always riding on her shoulder as she did chores or following her in the garden or on the trails nordic skiing. As children do, he grew up and now spends his time on his own adventures doing we know not what.
Queen Fudgie, the matriarch of the cats, was rescued in 2007 from a local farm which had dozens of farm cats, many of them sick or dying. She was a very sick little kitten who miraculously survived, and lived with us when we were still living in LA. Now 18 and blind in her left eye, she spent her first 16 years hissing and swiping at every other animal who entered the house regardless of their size, making sure they knew who was boss. Now she is content to give hugs with her paws around your neck - all. day. long.
Indie (Indiana Jones), 9, is one of Holly's kittens. Indie is the reincarnation of his mama - in both looks and demeanor. He is an extremely sweet, loving, emotional, needy, attached cat who needs to be near you at all times and follows Evelyn everywhere, taking up where Batcat left off.
Tabby, 14, came to us with her dear brother Sunny in 2016 from a woman in Rockford who asked us to keep them for her for 2 weeks while she got a new apartment and then abandoned them. They had previously been abandoned at her vet and were thought to be about 4 at the time. Tabby was declawed and is sadly bullied by the other cats because of it. Never declaw a cat! She is beautiful, shy, fearful and sweet.
Kitten (aka Gandhi), 9, is the only girl of Holly's kittens. She is exquisitely soft and quiet and affectionate but very independent.
Waiting patiently for dinner: Fudgie on the top step, Tesla, Batcat, Sunny (Rest in peace dearest boy), Princess, Beauty, Indie and Kitten.
Tesla, 9, the King of the Pride, the oldest of the kittens born from Holly, and born to be wild. His snuggle buddy is Beauty, 13, rescued as a tiny kitten from a snowstorm in 2012. Beauty is gentle, kind, quiet, affectionate but not demanding, and the definition of demure.
Princess, 16, the last remaining member of the 6 kittens abandoned in our old barn loft in 2009 when we bought the Capron farm. She is thoroughly sweet and affectionate and very talkative, asking loudly and persistently to be pet.
Beauty, Indi, Princess, Tesla, and Kitten
TESTIMONIALS
