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| Homestead with a heart: Rural living offers an innovation option for Iowans with autism (Spring 2008) |
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By Dean Hougton
Nothing nurtures the soul like country living. Spend some time at The Homestead, a 72-acre rural community a few miles east of Des Moines,
Iowa, and you’ll see just how therapeutic it can be to live the rural life. The people living in these six, four-person homes can be found tending their lawns and chemical-free fields and orchard. They get a jump on the growing season by starting seeds in a greenhouse, work late into the fall harvesting pumpkins and apples, and end the year by growing and selling a number of poinsettia plants for the Christmas season.
There’s just one thing you should know.
The residents here, along with others from the
community who join them to work on these
farming activities, are affected by autism.
The folks living on-site require staff support
24 hours a day. The simple rural life,
in this case, really is therapy. "There are a
number of people with autism who are served by sheltered workshops," says Steve Muller, The Homestead’s executive director. "But the families and professionals who founded The Homestead wanted to give folks with autism an alternative. They asked, ‘Why not farming?’" There were some precedents. The first farm model for adults with autism was established at Somerset Court in England in 1974. Bittersweet Farms in northwest Ohio was the first such U.S. agricultural approach.
Community supported ag. In December 1994, The Homestead opened the first of its residences and began to till the fields, becoming Iowa’s first horticulture-based program for persons with autism. "Our chemical-free approach is labor-intensive, and we had some challenges in the beginning," Muller recalls. By adopting the concept of community supported agriculture (CSA), The Homestead now supplies shareholders, who pay a lump sum at the beginning of the growing season, with 20 weeks or more of bountiful baskets of produce from late May or early June until October.
Homesteaders supply a dizzying variety of
produce, perhaps 50 different items throughout
the year. Some of the produce isn’t what
folks typically pick up in the grocery store.
Carol Grimm is a CSA subscriber from the
Des Moines area. Her daughter, Lainie, is a
resident of The Homestead, where she helps
grow the produce and also helps deliver CSA
baskets to shareholders throughout the year.
A newsletter accompanies each week’s delivery, explaining the contents of the basket and providing suggestions on how to prepare the items. "You never know what’s going to be in the bag," Carol says. "We’ve received several types of greens, a number of different varieties of squash, even some edible soybeans. I’ve had to Google some of these names to come up with recipes and ideas on how to use them. The newsletter also has been helpful."
Carol says her daughter has enjoyed life at
The Homestead over the past decade. "Lainie
enjoys a lot of freedom, visits her neighbors,
and walks up the street to the greenhouse to
help start seeds," she says. "There’s a sense
of community among the staff and residents,
a huge benefit of living in a rural setting."
Changing seasons. Autism is a neurological disorder that interferes with the way information is gathered and processed. It causes problems in communication, learning, and
social behaviors, and there seems to be an explosive growth in the number of autism cases
being diagnosed these days. While there is a
genetic component, the disorder seems to be
triggered by certain environmental exposures.
It’s no coincidence that The Homestead takes
a chemical-free approach to farming.
"Compared with a hundred years ago, there are a lot of things we do different in the world," Muller says. "We shouldn’t be too surprised with what we’re seeing. We think chemical-free farming is a good idea, because we may be dealing with the side effects of some sort of environmental exposure in the people we serve here at The Homestead."
In the meantime, The Homestead offers a chance for persons with autism to do something good for the heart, a chance to nurture and care for the land—and it returns the favor. "Unlike a sheltered workshop, farming allows the people we serve to be in touch with the changing seasons," Muller adds. "There is a sameness to punching a time clock and making widgets each day. Here, our people can mark time with the rhythm of the field."
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