About Outskirts of Heaven Farm

Hi, I’m Danielle, the person behind Outskirts of Heaven Farm and the stories inspired by the animals who live here.

Outskirts of Heaven Farm began with a simple idea: to create a place where animals could live, grow, and become part of something special. Over the years, the farm grew—and so did the family of animals living here.

The idea of giving those animals their own stories probably started much earlier than I realized. As a kid, I was convinced my stuffed animals had personalities and secret little lives when nobody was watching. I would actually hide outside my bedroom and peek through the keyhole, hoping to catch them coming alive.

I never did.

Years later, I found myself doing almost the exact same thing with the animals on the farm—watching them interact and wondering what they were thinking, what they would say to each other, and what adventures they might be having.

And these animals give me plenty of material.

Kaydi really is a nearly 2,000-pound gentle giant who doesn’t seem to realize how enormous she is. Charlotte really does dig giant holes and find trouble wherever she goes. Rhett, our full-sized horse who will calmly handle things that should probably scare him, is inexplicably terrified of the color yellow. And Bella really is a tiny, pampered Yorkie who seems completely convinced that managing an entire farm is somehow her responsibility.

Even some of the bigger adventures are real. Charlotte once wandered away from the farm after apparently following the sound of a tractor. Not long after, her picture appeared in a local Facebook group: “Is this your pig?”

There she was, running through somebody else’s field wearing her flower collar—with her hooves painted pink.

That was when I started looking at these everyday farm adventures differently. From Charlotte’s point of view, getting lost wasn’t just something that happened. It was an entire adventure.

That became the beginning of turning the animals of Outskirts of Heaven Farm into characters in their own stories.

Each book is more than an entertaining adventure. Every story teaches a lesson about friendship, courage, kindness, responsibility, patience, or learning to accept yourself just as you are. The animals may make mistakes, get into trouble, and see the world in very different ways, but they always come away having learned something important.

The books are also connected. Some stories refer to characters and events from other books, so the animals’ adventures are woven together into one larger, ever-growing story. A character who appears in the background of one book may become the main character in another, and an event mentioned in passing may lead to an entirely new adventure later on.

In a way, the books are kind of like the farm itself: everyone has their own personality and story, but their lives are all intertwined.

The adventures in the books may grow through imagination, but the personalities behind them are very real. Their quirks, friendships, fears, and occasionally ridiculous decisions are what inspire the stories.

In a way, I finally got what I spent my childhood waiting for.

My animals came alive.

They just don’t talk—so I take care of that part for them.