By Deborah Becker

Farming wasn’t on Shawn Hayden’s mind when he began looking at property near Gardner, a small city in central Massachusetts. His plan was to convert a farmhouse into housing for men in recovery from drug addiction and mental health issues.

Hayden, who runs the Gardner Athol Area Mental Health Association, envisioned a place where residents would live while receiving services from his organization.

As he and his staff finalized their first property deal, the seller made an unexpected request.

“It was kind of on his way out, he’s like, ‘Hey, I have two goats and a pony here,’ ” Hayden recalled. ” ‘Can they just stay?’ And we said, ‘I guess so.’ ”

From that unlikely beginning, was born a program that’s part animal sanctuary, part therapy center. The number of animals on the Gardner property has grown to 75 — with chickens, pigs, horses and critically endangered Newfoundland ponies joining the farm’s original residents.

The 16 men who live at what’s now known as the Carl E. Dahl House care for the animals and do daily chores. They typically stay for several months. Each person is assigned one particular animal to watch over as a central element of their therapy.

Since the farm began accepting residents in 2021, it has served about 200 men, funded through a combination of state and private grants, and donations. Hayden said many of the men are doing well and are now living on their own.

The program could become part of a growing trend in addiction treatment under U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has touted creating “healing farms” across the country for people struggling with substance use.

While the residents in Hayden’s center receive weekly counseling and psychiatric care, he believes it’s their work with animals that brings the most important lessons. Hayden said concepts like resilience and empathy are part of many treatment programs, but people appear to understand them more clearly once animals are involved.

“Sometimes it’s hard to get people motivated,” Hayden said. “But if I put a baby goat in your hands, everyone wants to help that baby goat, right? So it’s a little bit of a cheat code for some of these kind of lessons that we’ve been trying to teach people forever.”

Many animals at the farm are old or sick and need a lot of care, he explained, leading to lessons about accountability and showing up daily. Sometimes they don’t survive, prompting conversations about grief and letting go.

The goats are a favorite of 48-year-old Walter Cobb from Dorchester. He recently relapsed after six years of being drug-free. Cobb said he enjoys the routine of his daily chores. He’d never been on a farm before he arrived two months ago. Now, he said, he visits one goat a couple of times a day.

“I come out here at 5 in the morning,” Cobb said, as he swept one of the barns. “It’s gotten to the point where he jumps up and lets me hug him. We’ve got a good bond.”

Sometimes it's hard to get people motivated. But if I put a baby goat in your hands, everyone wants to help that baby goat, right?

-Shawn Hayden

The farm is an example of what’s known as a “therapeutic community,” a broad category of residential treatment that’s been around for decades. The programs are typically at least several months long, led by people who are also in recovery and include work or vocational training as part of the therapy.

While Hayden’s program requires daily chores and animal care, he said it’s different from some other therapeutic communities because of its focus on medical care and professional mental health treatment. The men’s work with the animals, he said, is built into a daily routine that blends old-fashioned farming with current therapeutic techniques led by staff counselors and psychiatrists.

“There is nothing we do on this farm that’s novel,” Hayden said. “We didn’t invent anything. We looked at something that’s worked for centuries, and we modernized some components of it.”

Also taking a fresh look at this idea is U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has personal and family experience with drug and alcohol addiction. As a model, Kennedy points to a program in Italy, called San Patrignano.

San Patrignano is an unusually large and sophisticated therapeutic community that currently serves more than 800 people. The residents pledge to live there for at least two years and work in farming, culinary arts, textiles and other jobs. The program is free, but the patients’ work is unpaid, which critics argue leaves people vulnerable to exploitation.

San Patringano’s leaders, and some current and former residents, say work is crucial to treatment, and the proceeds support the community.

In 2023, Kennedy told the podcast host Dr. Drew Pinsky that creating a network of facilities like San Patrignano in the U.S. would be his “Peace Corps,” an initiative founded by his uncle, the late President John F. Kennedy, in the 1960s.

“They teach skills, they have bakeries and furniture factories, and they are basically self-sufficient. It is so successful over there,” said Kennedy, who promoted the rehab idea several times before he was confirmed as health and human services secretary.

In the past, some therapeutic communities have faced allegations of abusing and exploiting residents. In one high-profile example, a large therapeutic community based in California became a cult, and its rise and descent was profiled last year in an HBO documentary.

San Patrignano was itself the subject of scandals, but today its leaders say policies are in place to prevent abuses.

Addiction experts say while therapeutic communities should be part of the treatment landscape, they can vary widely in terms of quality and structure.

Kevin Sabet,  president and CEO of the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions and a former drug policy advisor in the Clinton, Bush and Obama White Houses, said for therapeutic communities to succeed in the U.S., they must adhere to medical standards and strict oversight.

But Sabet also said the nation needs more — and better — drug treatment options. Although the U.S. spends billions annually on treatment, tens of thousands of people die of overdoses every year. That’s despite widening access to the overdose reversal drug naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan.

Sabet said therapeutic communities might make a difference, especially for people with severe substance use disorders.

“It would be cheaper than what we’re doing now, frankly,” Sabet said, “which is often waiting until there are a lot of problems and dealing with it in the criminal system, or reviving somebody with Narcan 15 times.”

A strong feature of therapeutic communities, according to Sabet and other experts, is the length of treatment — well beyond the average 28 days spent in many U.S. rehabs. They say that’s not nearly enough time to treat people for addiction.

John Kelly, founder and director of the Recovery Research Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital, said addiction treatment should span at least five years and gradually wind down.

“We really are talking about the long game here,” Kelly said.

But he added that more research is needed to assess how therapeutic communities might address the opioid epidemic. He’s concerned that expanding them could backfire if the Trump administration forces people into treatment or if programs are not adequately funded.

San Patrignano’s medical director, Dr. Antonio Boschini, said it would take more than money to replicate the Italian program on this side of the Atlantic. He said other countries have adapted San Patrignano’s model to account for cultural differences. But he believes there is a significant difference in the U.S. that underlies its high rates of addiction.

“Pain is a disease in your country — not only physical pain, but psychological pain,” Boschini said. “If you don’t learn how to cope with pain, you are more vulnerable to drugs.”

Interest in therapeutic communities appears to be growing among U.S. providers, according to Hayden and other advocates. Hayden attended the first national “care farming” conference at the University of Massachusetts Amherst this year, and said another is planned for next year. He’s now collecting data on his approach, and has secured state grant funding and nonprofit awards to expand his youth outpatient program to bring more people to the farm.

The post With two goats and a pony, an addiction treatment ‘farm’ takes root in Mass. appeared first on Care Farming Network.

We shared how care farms are transforming what community care can look like and were joined by some of the leaders behind the movement.

Presenters Included:

Kate Mudge, Care Farming Network

Caroline Croft Estay & Johnny Fifles, Vertical Harvest Farms

Rachel Gillis, CapeAbilities

Watch the recording to hear more about how care farms work, what inspires care farmers, and what’s possible when farms are designed as deeply supportive, inclusive spaces.

The post Care Farming: Farming for Healing and Inclusive Community-Building Webinar appeared first on Care Farming Network.

We’re thrilled to share that the Care Farming Network was recently featured on the ReImagination Café podcast in an episode that lifts up the growing movement of care farming across the country.

Hosted by Jessica Cherry, the episode brings together Kate Mudge, Co-Director of the Care Farming Network, and Woody Woodroof, founder of Red Wiggler Care Farm, for a conversation about how farms can promote health, well-being, and belonging—not just through what they grow, but through how they engage people.

From one Maryland farm to hundreds across the U.S., Kate and Woody share stories of how care farms heal, create purpose, and build community. They highlight the mutual benefits that flow to participants, staff, volunteers, and entire communities when farms are intentionally designed for inclusion and connection.

You’ll also hear from inspiring care farming leaders:

• Shawn Hayden (GAAMHA) on recovery programs that pair people in recovery with rescued farm animals.
• Lacey and Adam Ingrao (Bee Wise Farms) on mindfulness-infused beekeeping that supports veterans, invites honest dialogue, and nurtures resilience.
• Charley Schwartz (Red Wiggler) on creating farm-based spaces where people feel heard, seen, and that they belong.

Topics explored in this rich conversation include:

• What care farming is—and why it matters.
• The mutual benefits for participants, farmers, staff, volunteers, and communities.
• Red Wiggler’s model of meaningful employment for people with disabilities and community food access.
• How the Care Farming Network connects farms, shares resources, builds mentorship pathways, and strengthens this movement nationwide.
• Innovative care farm models serving people with disabilities, veterans, people in recovery, and other under-supported communities.

This episode beautifully captures the heart of care farming and the power of connection across our national network.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

The post Cultivating Change: The Transformative Power of Care Farming Podcast appeared first on Care Farming Network.

Care Farms are pioneers in integrating therapeutic farming practices with social care, providing innovative, holistic support to individuals with diverse needs. By integrating agricultural activities with therapeutic interventions, social support, skill development, and meaningful engagement with nature, care farms present a unique business model, and are often actively seeking to sell to institutions. In this webinar hosted by Farm to Institution New England and the Care Farming Network, hear from organizers and care farmers who are pioneering inclusive, supportive spaces on farms, where growers of all abilities, backgrounds, and life experiences are not only welcomed but given the opportunity to thrive.  They’ll share about their unique models, how they got started, and their successes and challenges. Registration link here!

Presenters:

Kate Mudge, Care Farming Network

Caroline Croft Estay, Vertical Harvest

Rachel Gillis, CapeAbilities

The post Care Farming: Farming for Healing and Inclusive Community-Building appeared first on Care Farming Network.

Eliada has deep agricultural roots, serving as a working farm since the early 1900’s. Today, Eliada’s Campus Farm program provides fresh organic produce, agricultural education opportunities, and community-based agritourism events to students at Eliada and the greater Asheville community. Our farm features several production spaces including a geodesic Grow Dome, Hoophouse, Corn Maze, and Learning Garden. With these garden spaces, we are equipped to grow food year-round. A majority of the produce grown on campus goes directly to our central kitchen, traveling only a hundred yards, and is prepared for student meals weekly. Excess produce is sold to local community partners who support food justice work in our community.

Agricultural education classes are taught by our Farm Director weekly at our garden sites to students ages 11-17 at Eliada Academy. Class sessions address various agricultural topics including gardening, conservation, farm ecology, irrigation, and pest control, and are part of the science curriculum. Students utilize our growing spaces and gardens to learn about regenerative farming practices and get hands-on experience working the land.

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Care farming can bring diversification benefits for farmers who want to take on a social purpose and help bring extra income to rural economies.

Also known as social farming or green care, the term refers to the provision of on-farm activities for people with care needs, including neurodivergence such as autism and learning disabilities.

We profile some social farming initiatives, including signposting for farmers who want to find out more.

Pennyhooks Farm Trust

Pennyhooks is a 40ha organic beef and grassland farm, which provides learning opportunities for autistic adults, many of whom are non-speaking.

It offers a much-needed solution to the lack of provision for people with complex autism once they leave school.

The charity’s founder, Lydia Otter, who grew up on the Oxfordshire farm, began farm visits when she was teaching autistic children more than 30 years ago.

Today, Pennyhooks provides bespoke support for autistic adults to gain practical skills and a sense of achievement through work-based activities and to forge social connections through a shared purpose.

This is led by autism centre manager Emma Masefield, farm managers Dominic Hill and Richard Hurford, and an experienced care staff team.

Every student has one-to-one support as they learn farm skills such as rolling out straw bales and feeding the cows.

They are taught woodwork, and build planters and birdhouses that are sold in the farm shop, and take accredited courses developed with the Open Colleges Network.

They also carry out conservation work such as hedge planting, thistle digging and species recording.

The farm’s aim is to “level the mountains that autism can bring” to allow students to thrive.

Emma’s Master of Education dissertation about movement differences in autism found that the way activities are set up can have a profound impact.

She gives the example of a student who needs to spin and move in arcs being able to incorporate these movements into tasks.

Murray, who is non-verbal, wrote this: “Pennyhooks provides me with work in a worry-free environment. I am my true self when I am there. I am amazed in myself doing skills that have really useful meaning.”

With plans to build supported living flats for six people on the farm when they have raised enough money, Pennyhooks continues to grow.

Lydia says: “We have found that the farm is a resource that can make a difference to our clients’ lives and we want to share it.”

Pennyhooks has a course for farmers who want to provide a similar service, and Lydia would like to see financial incentives for farms.

“It’s the perfect circle: the farm helps look after the students and the students help look after the farm,” she says.

Social Farming Ireland

The network of social farms across Ireland has grown from seven to about 160 over the past 10 years after a successful pilot led to funding from the Irish Department of Agriculture.

Social Farming Ireland manages the national network by supporting and training farmers, and matching individuals who need support to farms.

Research and policy officer Mary Brennan says participants have a chance to engage in meaningful activities in a supportive but informal environment.

“The activities on the farm also give a sense of routine and structure as well as social connection,” she says.

Individualised support plans set goals for the placement.

Those could be skills sampling, progressing towards further training or work, developing social connections, increasing confidence, or improving physical or mental health and wellbeing.

It is not an employment placement and the work is appropriate for each person’s abilities.

Significantly, farmers are paid to provide the support placements – about €80/day (£69/day) a person.

Placements are typically with two or three people, one day a week for 12 weeks.

But the payment is rarely the motivating factor: “The sense of wellbeing stretches to the farmer. You are doing something for your community – something that is bigger than you,” says Mary.

Camphill Village Trust

Camphill Village Trust is harnessing the power of nature to give people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health challenges access to opportunity, purpose and belonging.

The trust was established more than 70 years ago and now encompasses 10 diverse communities across England, from a 260ha dairy farm to community gardens.

At each site, the charity blends sustainable farming practices with nature-based therapy and skills development. It’s a model where the soil nurtures produce and communities.

Camphill’s head of natural environment, Robin Asquith, says the farming activities can be especially suited to neurodivergent people: “Farming is real, with real problems, real tasks and an end purpose.

“Animals don’t judge – they treat everybody equally and can bring out a different side to us.

“I have seen people who are non-speaking start engaging and talking with animals; it can be a powerful thing.”

The trust provides a range of options, from day visits to residential supported living, working with healthcare providers, social workers, local authorities and private clients to deliver additional care where needed.

Robin says: “Each person is recognised for who they are, and everyone works together as equals, contributing to purposeful and fulfilling work.”

Robin has found that some autistic community members excel in the dairy, following strict procedures around cleanliness and data recording.

He also says the predictable rhythms of farming can be therapeutic.

Having completed his Nuffield Scholarship on social farming, he has seen how it strengthens communities.

“Before mechanisation, farms were the social hub of communities, but that’s less so now.

“The way we support people on farms brings that back, which is important as farming can be isolating,” he says.

The trust has an emphasis on farm-to-fork and sustainability.

The produce grown and made on site is used in the charity’s shops and cafés, and all community members are encouraged to access the fruit and vegetables that they grow together.

“We are reimagining social care and designing an answer to a sector that is challenged. Nature, the environment, food and animals have a massive role to play in supporting people a bit differently – and a bit more meaningfully,” says Robin.

The Inclusive Farm

Mike Duxbury is a man on a mission to break down the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from entering farming.

Despite losing his sight at the age of six, he has had a remarkable working life – both in farming and in industry – and he is proud to be the only blind man to build a livestock farm.

Six years ago, he and co-founder Ness Shillito created the Inclusive Farm in Buckinghamshire, which welcomes people with neurodivergence and physical disabilities to build confidence and develop work skills to see if farming is for them.

They might spend a day, a week or longer on the farm. The pair are now building another Inclusive Farm in Scotland and have plans to create residential opportunities.

The farms provide a safe environment with adaptations including making things more tactile, audible signage and phone technology.

For people with autism, Mike says matching jobs to special interests can be a strategy that avoids overwhelm.

His prime focus is on ability rather than disability. He found that people often focused on what he couldn’t do when he was growing up.

He says: “Let people be themselves – don’t judge them on what you think they can do but what they can do.”

The post Benefits of social farming and how farmers can get involved appeared first on Care Farming Network.

Author: Katelyn Winberg

A five-acre farmstead near Hudson in southeastern South Dakota is dedicated to sowing meaningful lives for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

Katie and Chris Zuraff purchased the farmstead they turned into an agritourism venture and an educational nonprofit known as The Specialty Crop in 2021, but the dream began decades earlier. The initial inspiration came from Katie’s sister, Shaina Strong, who had an intellectual disability. 

As the sisters grew up in their St. Paul home, Katie knew she wanted to dedicate her life to individuals with disabilities. In high school, she worked at a Montessori school located on a farm. It was from that setting that she knew exactly what she wanted to create: a space like that Montessori farm, but for older teenagers and adults with disabilities. 

Katie attended Augustana University in Sioux Falls, earning degrees in elementary education and special education. There, she met her husband, Chris Zuraff. 

“He’s always been my biggest cheerleader,” Katie said. “He’s also pretty handy and likes to research.” 

The first part of the dream came in the form of The Specialty Crop LLC. The LLC focuses on agritourism. The farmstead offers two camper sites, a tent camping site and a log cabin, where guests can stay at the farm for $25 to $75 a night. 

The LLC also hosts events like Second Saturdays, a monthly open house where the public is invited to tour the grounds, play games and meet the farm animals. Another monthly event is the summer concert series; August’s concert will take place on the 16th, featuring songwriter Ben Gage. 

The Specialty Crop already sells eggs from its on-site hens and is working to set up a farm stand, using funds from a grant from Poet. The farm stand will feature fresh produce grown by The Specialty Crop farmers during the summer session, farm-fresh eggs, baked goods, fresh flowers and The Specialty Crop merchandise. 

Sustainability is top of mind for the Zuraffs. Their crops are grown organically, and stewardship of the land is central to the farm’s philosophy, Katie said. 

The farmers at The Specialty Crop grow actual specialty crops, ranging from tomatoes to corn. The farm’s name reflects both these crops and its core mission: special education. 

“The garden belongs to both the LLC and the nonprofit,” Katie said. 

The nonprofit, known as The Specialty Crop Collaborative, was established in the spring of 2024 and focuses on education. The fee-based program includes the Sow Program for ages 5 to 18, the Grow Program for adults, and the Reap Program for individuals who have completed the Grow Program and return as mentor farmers. 

These programs are the backbone of the farm. They teach job and life skills to individuals of all abilities, especially those who may be overlooked after high school. 

“Often, these individuals graduate from high school and aren’t given meaningful work,” Katie said. “When given high expectations and a high-value activity, they exceed expectations.” 

The Specialty Crop is the only farm in South Dakota that is a part of the Care Farming Network, a national organization of farms that integrate agricultural practices with therapeutic interventions to promote health, well-being and belonging for people with intellectual and development disabilities, veterans, trauma survivors and those in recovery. 

While the Zuraffs bring these values to the farm, the most important remains family. The couple resides on the farm with their four children, and extended family often helps with operations. 

In the quiet northwest corner of the farm, the Zuraffs and their extended family recently installed a memorial to the person who first inspired Katie’s dream: her sister, Shaina. Shaina passed away in June 2024. 

Her spirit lives on through The Specialty Crop. The Zuraffs have big dreams for the future, including full-time educational programs, more animals beyond their chickens, cats and dog, and even a sauna. 

The Specialty Crop welcomes volunteers and donations. Scholarship assistance is available for those who qualify. For more information, visit thespecialtycrop.com. 

In the meantime, the Zuraffs plan to keep practicing what they call radical hospitality. 

“We want to make an inclusive space for everybody,” Katie said.

The post Farming, camping and community: Welcome to The Specialty Crop  appeared first on Care Farming Network.

Why the U.S. Needs a Care Farming Network

In a country facing overlapping crises such as rising rates of mental health challenges, social isolation, disconnection from the natural world, and lack of inclusive employment opportunities, care farms offer an integrative solution.

Care farms support a wide range of individuals, including those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), trauma survivors, veterans, youth, people in recovery, and others who have been historically marginalized or excluded.

More than just farms, these are communities of care, where someone might find meaning through planting seeds, feeding animals, joining a harvest, or engaging with a practitioner on a farmstead. For many, care farms provide access to connection, skill-building, empowerment, and dignity in ways traditional services often cannot.

From ServiceNet’s Prospect Meadow Farm, which hires adults with developmental disabilities to grow shiitake mushrooms in Massachusetts, to Greens Do Good, New Jersey’s first vertical farm, which provides meaningful job training and employment for teens and adults with autism, care farms are transforming lives.

And yet, as Side Effects Public Media reports, there are few established funding streams or policy frameworks in the U.S. to support these efforts. Care farmers often struggle for legitimacy, resources, and connection.

That’s where CFN steps in to provide the infrastructure, community, and advocacy that care farmers need to thrive. As one CFN member put it: “I had not heard of the term ‘care farming’ until I found CFN. What an incredible relief to find other people doing what I was doing, feeling the same pain points, and having the same joys.”

Looking Ahead: A Care Farm in Every County

The Care Farming Network’s vision is as clear as it is ambitious: a care farm in every U.S. county. This vision is grounded in the belief that everyone, regardless of ability, background, or circumstance, deserves meaningful work, supportive community, and access to a care farm in their community.

To realize this, more research is needed to measure outcomes and establish care farming as a legitimate, fundable practice within U.S. systems of care. While anecdotal evidence is powerful, quantitative studies can validate what care farmers and participants already know: that nature and farm-based interventions improve mental health, build resilience, and foster belonging.

CFN is working alongside academic partners, researchers, and care farms to close this gap. For example, we celebrate the work of the UC Davis Green Care Lab, researching animal behavior, stress physiology, and behavioral neuroendocrinology, and Simple Sparrow Care Farm in Texas, whose ongoing research efforts explore how “care farming WORKS.” These and other projects are helping to build the foundation for broader recognition and systemic support.

The Care Farming Network is also actively collaborating with disability rights advocates, veteran farming organizations, mental health professionals, researchers, sustainable farming associations, academics, and peer-led networks across the country. Together, we are shaping a more inclusive, equitable future for farming, one where care is considered just as essential as cultivation.

The seeds have been planted. The ground is fertile. And with the Care Farming Network nurturing this movement, a new kind of agriculture is growing in America- one rooted in belonging, rising with hope.

The post Rooted in Innovation: Care Farming Network and the Rise of a New Kind of Farming in America appeared first on Care Farming Network.

Care farms provide growth and recovery through the power of nature.

By Olivia Montes

 

 

Off a busy Delaware highway, down a gravel road, and just beyond a blooming green meadow stands a barn.

If you peek inside, you might see a cat or two curled up in a sun-filled spot or a row of ducks quacking on their morning stroll. Or, if you’re lucky, you can hear a rooster greeting the day with a full, mighty crow.

However, if you look a little closer, this barn is more than that. To many, it is a refuge where people of all ages and backgrounds come together, roll up their sleeves, and immerse themselves in the natural world.

For many more, it’s where they can offer compassion and care to themselves and each other. It’s the kind of journey Grateful Acres founder and CEO Ally Kennedy understands all too well.

After losing her parents, grandmother, and uncle within roughly a year and facing this grief amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy was struggling to heal. One morning, inside that same Middletown barn, she found an answer through one of her closest companions: her horse of 23 years, Miss Coolie.

“I just noticed that our breath started to sync, and I was just feeling a lot calmer,” she says. “I just sat there with her…had a good cry, and I knew in my heart that that second just changed me.”

Through Miss Coolie, and the spirit of her family, Kennedy “got [her] clarity back,” and brought Grateful Acres to life in June 2021.

Alongside a team of volunteers and several four- and two-legged friends, Kennedy has a vision to build a supportive space that incorporates the natural environment to promote community and self-care. In other words, it’s a care farm.

According to the Care Farm Network (CFN), care farming is defined as “the therapeutic use of farming practices” to promote healing. An extension of green care, care farms operate under supervised, structured programming, providing agricultural activities and services for individuals “with a defined need,” according to the United Kingdom–based charity Social Farms & Gardens. This includes rehabilitation and special education, as well as improving emotional, mental, and social health.

While care farms provide an individual-first approach to healing, they differ by the populations they serve. Several furnish services to clients with mental or physical health challenges, alcohol or substance use disorders, and intellectual or developmental disabilities.

“Ultimately, [care farming] is about participation and a sense of belonging,” says CFN outreach and communications consultant Kate Mudge. “[It is] allowing people to get their hands dirty and find value in just interacting with nature.”

With roots in many countries—the United Kingdom boasts nearly 400 facilities alone—care farming is still relatively new in the United States. According to CFN, as of 2024, there were 283 care farms registered in the U.S.—four of which, including Grateful Acres, are in Delaware.

A Bright Spot

A program under the auspices of West End Neighborhood House, spanning 3 acres close to Route 13, Bright Spot Urban Farm in New Castle knows about growth. According to program director Ruth Arias, Bright Spot was conceived nearly a decade ago to help young adults transitioning out of foster care learn about cultivating food and other products in urban areas.

Upon expanding and moving to the Delaware Health and Social Services’ Herman M. Holloway Sr. Campus, Arias says, the program shifted its focus to high school students, specifically those from low-income and at-risk neighborhoods across New Castle County.

“In their neighborhoods, some of them don’t have yards or trees, so this is a therapeutic space for them,” Arias says.

For 12 weeks during the summer, participants learn a wide range of agricultural skills, including landscaping, caring for plants in the greenhouse, and even customer service.

As many kids move forward, Arias and her team are impressed with how the children build a familial space and make changes of their own in a little over a year.

“Our whole purpose is not just to create farms but to have leaders out there in the world or in their community making a difference,” says Arias.

Taking R.O.O.T.S.

For Talon and Travis Holleman, the commitment to reconnection runs deep. After leaving their careers in nursing and business, respectively, the pair moved with their two children from their hometown of Baltimore to southern Delaware in 2017. Their intention was to spend more time together and “to go back to the basics” and find altruistic ways of learning.

Homeschooling their kids, Bella and Emmett, and moving to their 3-acre family homestead in Georgetown gave them an idea.

“The more we got into [homeschooling, the more] we wanted to build this structure of activities that you wouldn’t typically get in schools,” Travis explains.

After launching an after-school program in 2021 and hearing from community members who wanted to participate, Travis and Talon got the idea for the Reaching Outside of Traditional Schooling Youth + Development Program—also known as R.O.O.T.S.

“We just opened up the entire property to an educational playground,” Talon says.

R.O.O.T.S. allows children, teens, and young adults to get out of the classroom and into the natural world while building community through self-sufficiency and goodwill. This includes workshops on the homestead and activities such as job readiness, mentoring, and yoga.

Building on the pillars of regenerative farming, nature studies, bushcraft, animal husbandry, and homesteading, the Hollemans center programming on helping others form healthy, foundational social skills and how to use these same teachings to build connections with one another.

“With care farming, it just comes back to, we don’t have to do this alone,” Talon says. “We can come together as a team.”

A Lasting Impact

Domenica Personti says she sees The Sanctuary at Impact Life Farm as “a care farm with recovery roots.”

After working 26 years in the behavioral health field and being in recovery herself, Personti sought new ways to help those seeking treatment for substance or alcohol use disorder achieve long-term rehabilitation. She found inspiration from her own childhood, spending time on her grandparents’ farm in Galena, Maryland.

“My grandmother…always believed that we should have a connection to nature,” explains Personti, the founder and CEO of Impact Life. “And I think that just kind of planted this foundation for me.”

Fulfilling a decade-long dream, Personti created a similar space in 2020 for women in recovery—one that gives them the support to achieve long-lasting healing.

Across approximately 17 acres in Seaford, 10 women in recovery call Impact Life home, living in a five-bedroom house overlooking open land and a silo and barn with pigs, goats, chickens, cows, and alpacas.

Throughout their time, clients learn how to contribute to the farm and homestead. They also work alongside licensed behavioral and mental health clinicians in one-on-one, group, and family sessions, and take part in mindfulness activities and free time.

Through combining agriculture with the 12 steps of addiction recovery, and creating a safe and relatable environment, Impact Life establishes a plan for restoration, sobriety, and resilience.

Sarah Burke, who has been living at Impact Life since November 2023, was initially drawn to the long-term investment in and support for clients—and the barn full of animals—seeking a change from the 28-day treatment programs she previously attended.

At the farm, Burke took part in nature walks, bonding with new furry friends, playing games like Recovery Jeopardy.

It was through connecting with peers and specialists that she gained hope and security.

“We are all fighting a similar battle, so we all can lift each other up,” she says. “Our situations are different, but the pain is the same, and the power that comes from that [lets us] know we’re going to be OK.” “My story is not harder than anybody else’s story. Some people have had it worse; some people haven’t had it,” she continues. “But my story is my story, and I’m working through that for me.”

Giving and Getting Back

For volunteers at Grateful Acres, being a part of the community behind the care farm is its own reward.

After starting to homeschool her son, Reese, in February 2023, Heather Wharton began searching for volunteer opportunities and found the chance to “get [their] hands dirty and learn some hard work” at Grateful Acres.

With each weekly visit there, Heather has seen Reese become “more comfortable and social” and willing to handle new challenges. “When we first got here, [Kennedy] had small chickens she was about to raise, and he was just nervous around them,” Wharton explains. “And now, if they’re out, he runs, chases them down, and rounds them up.”

Kelly Dakin, along with her sons Liam and Ryan, says working on a care farm has benefited their own well-being.

“As a person who has anxiety, one of the things that I find is sometimes you feel alone in how you’re feeling, and how your worries get you into this negative mindset,” Dakin says. “And being here, and having those feel-good [moments] of helping out, and the community and the animals to love on…it really has been helpful.”

For the last three years, Kennedy has seen how much Grateful Acres and care farms have thrived, and how they have encouraged others to change their own lives.

“I’m always preaching, if you’re afraid to do something, just take the first step,” she explains. “[And] if you have to take two steps backward, that’s OK.”

But while running a care farm isn’t always easy, her team, community, and animals remind her of the mission: to help bring others love, joy, and comfort when they need it most.

And that, Kennedy says, is something for which to be grateful. “I feel now, in my heart, I know that there was a need for this,” she says. “And I don’t question myself anymore.”

The post Care Farms Cultivate Healing Across Delaware appeared first on Care Farming Network.

Nestled on 428 acres of scenic countryside, The Lands at Hillside Farms is a historic, non-profit educational dairy farm with a mission that reaches far beyond its fences. As a 501(c)(3) organization, Hillside Farms is dedicated to teaching life choices that are healthy, logical, and sustainable—ensuring that future generations, even 200 years from now, have access to the same or better opportunities and resources.

Hillside Farms’ Care Farming Services provides a compassionate and healing space for children facing the difficult challenges of trauma. Since 2012, it has been a beacon of hope to the region’s children from ages 6 to 14, especially those dealing with various forms of trauma, including the painful loss of family members or challenging circumstances within their homes.

Addressing the trauma, a recent Center for Disease Control report on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is emphasized here. According to extensive research, damaging experiences may involve violence, abuse, or growing up in a household affected by mental health issues or substance dependencies. Trauma is not a fleeting affliction but leaves lasting effects on a child’s brain development and coping mechanisms.

However, recovery is indeed possible, and the Care Farming Services at Hillside Farms offer a structured yet compassionate route towards healing. This comprehensive, evidence-based program offers children the opportunity to interact with mental health professionals, trauma counselors, and occupational therapists. Children also engage in age-appropriate farm-based activities, creating a bond of shared experience and understanding with likewise affected peers. Moreover, each day includes grief education sessions and emotional support activities tailored to the children’s individual needs, while respecting their individual pace and comfort zones in group activities.

“The Earth and all its creatures are a gift and a responsibility to be cared for by us.” Dr. Douglas J. Ayers

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The post The Lands at Hillside Farms appeared first on Care Farming Network.