- Author: Jay Nord, UCCE Master Gardener, Humboldt & Del Norte Counties
“At Sapience Therapeutic Farms, we sow the seeds of possibilities that cultivate independent skills, community, and wisdom.”
When describing what this crazy idea of mine is, I felt that the vision statement was the best way to start this article. It shaped how I developed this from idea to conception and now growth. However, to get the full picture of how I could pull off something like this, we need to return to the 1900's.
In 1997, while working a retail job in the Bayshore Mall and attending College of the Redwoods, I saw a job advertisement that asked for someone to come work with their 4-year-old child with autism. Autism was something I had very little knowledge of, but I seemed to have a knack for working with children and thought it was a good way to get some skills and learn something new.
Over the next 25 years, I was able to accomplish all the goals I had set for myself (and some I didn't). At Humboldt State University (now Cal Poly Humboldt), I obtained my BA in Psychology in 2000. Soon thereafter I was able to start my own behavioral consulting business and became a vendor of the Redwood Coast Regional Center as a Behavior Management Assistant.
After about a year with my own business, I was at a behavioral conference and met the owner of an agency trying to expand into Humboldt. Dr. Ira offered me a job that same day, and I soon began to work for one of the first behavior agencies in Humboldt County that specialized in applied behavior analytic work. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is research-based therapy that helps people learn new skills and improve their behavior. ABA focuses on how behavior is affected by the environment and how learning takes place. It helps build the skills needed to talk, play, and live."
During my time working for this agency, I was able to go from direct 1:1 work with clients to being promoted to Clinical Director of the agency that at the time, served clients in Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino and Lake Counties. My duties as Clinical Director included recruiting and hiring staff, interviewing potential families for intake, completing intakes of new clients, creating the office budget, providing ABA directly to clients and their family as well as managing the consultants and 1:1 staff. During my time with that agency, I went back to school and received my MA in Education with an emphasis in applied behavior analysis and soon after I received my Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) credential.
Life was great, I had a good job that I was respected for my knowledge, skills and being the person, I wanted to be…and then COVID! Like most of the world, it spun me for a loop and made how I did my work impossible or at least one of the biggest challenges I have ever faced. However, on the flip side to that crazy experience, we suddenly had a bit more time on our hands because we weren't supposed to leave our homes. I was working from home. I was working from my home office in our 1961 Shasta camp trailer and decided I wanted to rip out all the “grass” in my front yard and start all over again with a garden. What happened after that moment has changed my life.
Every day, I was out in the yard cleaning, prepping beds, and planting flowers and veggies when I noticed something that didn't happen very often in my neighborhood. My neighbors and people walking down the street would stop and say “hi” or comment about the yard in some way. That interaction made me think about the connection we have with plants and how that connection can strengthen our connection with people. Light bulb! What if I had space to grow plants of all kinds where people with developmental disorders could come out and learn how to care for them while learning how to care for themselves?
So, what does one do with an idea so large and so new? Quit their well-paid job of course! With the support of my amazing wife, we tightened our belts and cut out non-essential spending so I could go back to school and learn how to be a better gardener and learn some new skills. I found an online program to become a Horticultural Therapist from the University of Tennessee and was accepted to that program as well as the program you all know me from, the Master Gardener Program.
Then in 2022 we started our own business, and I completed a very lengthy service design for the Redwood Coast Regional Center, and I was referred my first client. Luckily, we could find a little land to lease to get this all started on and the first year was amazing, but I needed my own property if I was going to run this program like I had pictured. In September of 2023, we found a piece of property and were able to purchase it. We now have 11 acres of amazing trees, native plants, wildlife, and farmland. Clients now get to come out to enjoy and learn about how the life of a plant is related to ours and how we treat the plant is very similar to how we treat ourselves and others. The more we nurture the plant, give it the basics of what it needs, it will thrive, grow and give us bounty…the same way life does.
There are currently 9 people that come out to the farm on a weekly basis. They range in abilities from nonverbal and just along for the ride to owning their own microenterprise and making woodworking projects to sell or getting paid to work on the farm every week. When clients arrive, we typically will start with going to see what new things have bloomed or pet the goats and chickens. All participants are involved in some part of the farm process, such as planting seeds, harvesting products, processing the product for sale, or maybe just putting woodchips onto pathways. No matter what the skill level of that individual, we can figure out a way for them to participate and be part of something bigger and help to feed our community.
The people that come out to the farm range in ages from 9 years old to 35 years old. If the participants desire, I try to foster any sort of entrepreneurial skills for the clients so they can create something that someone else wants to purchase and use or decorate their home with. As well as entrepreneurial skills, they also have the opportunity to learn interpersonal skills with the community. We go to multiple farmers' markets and interact with people all over the county. The community gets a chance to become more aware of the neurodiverse population we have here and what skills they have.
As I look around the farm, I see that this journey that we are on is just beginning, and there is no telling what ideas we will come up with to make this crazy idea of teaching behavioral skills through agriculture even better.
All photos by the author and used with permission.
Resources:
Become a Master Gardener, UC Master Gardeners of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties https://ucanr.edu/sites/hdnmastergardeners/Become_a_Master_Gardener/
Horticultural Therapy Program, University of Tennessee, Department of Plant Sciences https://plantsciences.tennessee.edu/horticulturaltherapycertificate/
UC Master Gardener Program https://mg.ucanr.edu/
Who We Are, UC Master Gardeners of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties https://ucanr.edu/sites/hdnmastergardeners/Home/
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