The Shwell Audio Magazine

Episode 4.2: On Location at Rainbow Ranch | Leaving Home to Find It


Listen Later

Kell and Cath (and special guest Jonathan Martin) take a field trip to Rainbow Ranch Petting Zoo in rural Nashville, Illiinois. Kell's longtime friends Alan Blumhorst and Marty Stanberry, have operated Rainbow Ranch for 16 years on the family farm Alan's family has owned for more than 150 years. As some of the couple's dozens of exotic and domestic animals—including peacocks, a zebra, camels, alpacas, flocks of sheep and goats, potbellied pigs, a macaw named Max and a blind llama named Lover settle in for the night as sun sets over the farm fields—Alan talks about growing up gay in the heartland, leaving home to come out and coming home to find his true calling, and what it means to make a home your own in this far-reaching, funny, poignant, and surprising group conversation. 

Come for the peacocks squawking in a 170-year-old pecan tree. Stay for the profound insights about family, legacy, and a place of one's own. 

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Shwell Audio MagazineBy Cathleen Falsani and Kelley Weber