JUANITA: The property became Comus Sky Farm in 1993, when my late husband Ron and his thenwife purchased it— though 1996 is what they stamped into the barn when they built it. The house itself was built in 1973, and a lot of people would still know it by the Hyman name, as that family ran it first. I met Ron online in 2005— he proposed on the second date in St. Thomas— and we moved here 21 years ago. Ron passed away in 2018.
The farm is now a certified wildlife sanctuary. The night sky here is remarkable— no meaningful light pollution, just a faint glow behind the mountain from Loudoun County. The fireflies in summer are extraordinary. Visitors who haven’ t seen them in years are genuinely moved by the sight. I’ m currently looking into another certification through Dark Sky International.
Living here sharpens your senses. A few days ago I spotted a dead possum in the backyard that looked a bit too round. I opened the pouch and pulled out five newborns— stuck them in my hair to keep them warm, which they do naturally by clinging— and rushed them to Gaithersburg Animal Rescue on a heating pad. I used to do the animal cruelty training at the police academy, so I knew what to do, and I know it’ s illegal to keep wildlife unless you’ re a licensed rehabber.
PLENTY: What a sight that must have been! Tell me a little more about how you got into that kind of work.
JUANITA: I grew up in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds— thatched cottages, narrow roads, horses ridden through the middle of town with no helmet. My mother ran a tack shop called Dobbin’ s Boutique from our back garden after her divorce, and we got into rescuing horses bound for the French meat market— buying them at sales in London and Slough, bringing them home thin and frightened, fattening them up, and placing them in private homes. We had about 25 at one time. We were always getting calls from the local police that the horses were out on the main road to London.
I’ ve always been a lifelong animal advocate. I spent my pocket money as a kid on strays, was never afraid of snakes or spiders, brought everything home. My father was an engineer who worked on the development of the MRI at Oxford Instruments. He came to the United States to sell the first
MRI machine to Jefferson Hospital in the 1970s. I came over first at 13 for a holiday with my father, then returned at 19 and settled in the Philadelphia area and eventually Cape May, New Jersey, where I worked as an animal control officer and later became an Animal Cruelty Investigator— number 381 among the first group certified in New Jersey. The job was 24 / 7: hoarding cases, injured wildlife, bats in houses, a 50-pound beaver on the promenade, a seal that ended up riding in the back of the patrol truck with its head out the window.
During that period as a single mother, I also drove a horse and carriage for Cape May Carriage Company for seven years, mostly because I wanted to ride a horse on the beach. I used to take my daughter to school in the carriage in the carpool lane. She was mortified at the time; now she thinks it’ s wonderful.
PLENTY: Do you currently have any rescue animals on the farm?
JUANITA: Up at the barn we have Nigerian dwarf goats, a miniature zebu cow, 16 ducklings that just arrived, a bunny, Mr. and Mrs. Goose, Peking ducks, and three horses. All of them are rescues. Donations from our farm market stand, which runs all year up at the barn, go toward their care and upkeep. Volunteers Katie and Josh do a fantastic job tending to the garden and caring for the animals.
People can give the horses carrots and spend time with the baby goats— what I’ d call cuddle sessions with the animals. I’ ve grown up around all of this so it doesn’ t feel remarkable to me, but
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