Founder Led From the Beginning
Barn Angels was founded by the two of us, Wesley and Amelia , but our lives with animals started long before Barn Angels was ever even a thought.
Wesley
Wesley grew up with family dogs Jake, Bingo and Whiskey, his German Shepherd, but his love for animals definitely didn’t stop with dogs.
He was always especially fond of reptiles and, throughout his life, managed to create a bit of a small zoo. He rescued multiple snakes, kept exotic freshwater fish and, of course, there were Samson and Delilah, his cats.
His mom’s famous line was always: “Wesley… not another pet!”
She would often come home to find another kitten or animal that needed a soft landing.
Wesley has always been happiest amongst animals, incorporating his love of nature and the outdoors with whatever pets happened to be part of his life at the time.
Amelia
I was basically born in the barn.
I spent my entire childhood running around the old Greenwood Raceway. (Ahhh, the good old Greenwood… if you know, you know.) We travelled with our horses to Woodbine, Mohawk and Fort Erie, and some of my best childhood memories are from those racetracks and travelling to the auctions in Pennsylvania with a beat up F150 and a horse trailer. All of us kids would run through the shedrows catching kittens because there were ALWAYS so many of them.
Naturally, I tried to sneak them home. Most kids brought home lice…I brought home fleas.
And let me tell you, my parents’ shag carpet was exactly what those fleas were looking for. 😂
Once the trainers went home, I would wander stall to stall petting all the horses. I remember watching the equine veterinarians work and paying very close attention, taking mental notes even as a little kid.
By around ten years old, I was jogging horses and running jugs to our own horses.
And without naming names or sharing anyone’s DOBs… some of you reading this probably remember me.
Those were honestly some of the best years of my life.
As I got older, animals continued to be involved in almost everything I did. I worked directly with my aunt at her veterinary practice and completed co-op placements at several animal hospitals including an exotic bird hospital. I got hands-on experience learning as a veterinary assistant, assisting with procedures and surgeries and even practicing my suturing. I was told throughout my childhood I would make an excellent veterinarian or surgeon one day. I also had the opportunity to attend and assist hands-on with several studies at the University of Guelph’s large-animal facility with cattle.
For most of my younger life, I truly believed I was going to become a veterinarian. My aunt was a huge influence on me. I loved the care and professionalism she gave to her clients and their animals, and I was incredibly lucky to be included in so many amazing experiences at such a young age. I learned so much from her.
Barn Angels Was Created to Fill That Gap
There was one side of animal care that never sat quite right with me: End-of-life care. Working around veterinary medicine showed me so many incredible things, but this was always the part that felt like something was missing.
Growing up in the horse industry meant I was never really sheltered from death or from what happened afterward. I will always remember the first time I truly understood it. When I was a child one of our horses had passed away and I watched him being hauled away by Mr. Perconi himself. Donnie was a good friend of our family, so the realities of death and what happened afterward were never hidden from me.
Back then, the choices were basically:
Rendering or burial.
That was simply what happened.
But even as a child, it was very clear to me that there was a major piece missing when it came to end-of-life care.
Skip forward roughly 30 years and here I am, meeting the love of my life and realizing I wasn’t alone in thinking that way. Wesley and I both had a shelf of urns from pets we had cremated and loved over the years. and we both wanted something different.
Something everlasting.
Something natural.
Something that didn’t just sit on a shelf.
Something that could actually give back to the earth.
Then I lost Running Tough.
Running Tough was my retired Adena Springs horse and my first real horse love. I loved that horse so much I have his face tattooed on my arm. The day he suffered a tragic accident, my heart was absolutely shattered. Even now, I still don’t really have the right words to explain what that loss felt like.
We called the rendering service that had cared for our family’s horses for years to come pick Running Tough up. Donnie was supposed to come. Instead, someone else arrived in the truck and told us that Donnie had passed away that very day and our farm would be the last stop of the day.
That moment has always stayed with us.
Not long afterward, the rendering service area changed dramatically, and suddenly, so many horse owners and farms were left without an option. There was a MASSIVE gap in the industry. We knew it because we were close enough to the industry to see exactly what was happening. Horse owners and dairy farmers needed somewhere to turn.
Families needed options.
Veterinary clinics needed an aftercare provider they could confidently trust with their clients.
Farms, rescues, sanctuaries and municipalities needed a dependable service that understood both the practical realities of animal aftercare and the emotional side of losing an animal.
Wesley and I kept coming back to the same thought:
Somebody needs to fix this.
Eventually we realized… maybe it needed to be us.
So, while quietly working in the background, we began researching, learning, planning, and figuring out how we could create something different.
Something we would actually choose for our own animals.
Something that respected the animal, supported the family and could ultimately give something back to the earth.
That work became Barn Angels Composting.
While Barn Angels has grown far beyond what we imagined in those early days, the reason behind it really hasn’t changed.
We’re still animal people.
We still know what it feels like to love them.
We still know what it feels like to lose them.
And we still believe that caring for an animal shouldn’t stop when their life does.
Still Founder-Led Today
As Barn Angels has grown, one thing has remained unchanged: we are still deeply involved in the company and connected to the communities we serve.
We are animal people, farm people and service people. We understand the bond between people and their animals, and we understand the responsibility that comes with being trusted during end-of-life moments.
Our promise has always been simple:
Show up when we are needed. Communicate honestly. Handle every animal with dignity. Treat every family with care.