Everything Under The Sun: Care Farm Demonstrates Harmony With Nature And Farm Animals

Monday, October 31, 2016

Care Farm Demonstrates Harmony With Nature And Farm Animals

Students at John R. Wooden High School go hands on at Kindred Spirits.

For a number of years, there was a farm at John R. Wooden High School in Los Angeles, but no one was taking care of it. That neglected farm did not go unnoticed, however. Karen Snook, a local businesswoman, and some of LA's youth got together, cleaned it up, planted some crops, and the available garden plots started producing.

The farm became known as KINDRED SPIRITS CARE FARM, a place where nature, animals, and people meet. This type of farm draws on a traditional small farm model, common in Europe, in which youth provide the care, the animals live life naturally, and people come to visit to experience the harmony of a natural setting. Fruits and vegetables are harvested, after being grown using the principles of permaculture.

Ms. Snook explained further, "Care farms, by definition, are all about bringing healing and wellness to vulnerable people. Our version of care farming brings in vegan values of compassion to all sentient beings by introducing people to individual farmed animals and showing them that farmed animals are as worthy of love, compassion, and care as any companion animal or other sentient being. The organic gardens teach nutrition and self reliance to at-risk kids to empower them to be less reliant on those who might exploit or abuse them, and it is done in a sustainable way so that the earth is not compromised in service to human survival."

Students have rebuilt some of the farm buildings and now the animals have a safe place to live. All animals housed at the farm have been rescued from abuse situations. Recently, students put together a large greenhouse that offers space for planting and teaching. UCLA has also partnered with Kindred Spirits to create a high school level science-based curriculum based on farming activities, probably the first of its kind.

You can be surrounded by tomatoes in a tomato tunnel at Kindred Spirits.

This year Kindred Spirits Care Farm became the venue for Food Day LA 2016. There was tasty vegan food to sample, farm animals to meet up close and personal, and a chance to get a look at the newly-constructed greenhouse. There was spirited dancing by Bryson and the Pierce College Dance Group, face painting for the kids, an opportunity to see the giant tomato tunnels (tomatoes grown over arches that form a tunnel), a visit to the bunny barn, an enclosure where goats and people could check each other out, time to feed fruit to a llama, a selection of games where kids could learn about kindness. So much to do, and so much enjoyment and peace. A wonderful place for anyone to spend a day.