The Full Story

Care Farming

Care farming means the therapeutic use of farming practices. It's sometimes called social farming.

Care farming sits amongst other nature-based therapies that are collectively called 'green care'. Green care means structured nature programmes for people with a defined need to benefit health, social care or education outcomes. Here at Sttebs Care Farm we provide health, social and an educational service for a range of vulnerable groups of people. This includes people with mental health problems, people suffering from mild to moderate depression, adults and children with learning disabilities, people with autism and young people that do not necessarily engage with formal lessons in school.

Day Structure

Our day starts at 10am and once everyone has arrived and protective clothing is on, we start with the daily activities such as feeding the animals. Mid-morning, we usually enjoy a drink and snack. We then have a variety of activities to choose from, such as horticulture animal care and wildlife and conservation! We also complete worksheets and craft tasks such as making enrichment for the animals, bug hotels and hedgehog houses. Everyone brings a packed lunch and we all stop and talk about the day's efforts. In the afternoon there is more choice of jobs and then the day is drawn to a close at 2pm.

If it's bad weather....

Care Farming is sometimes limited by weather, so we have many varied activities based around the seasons. Here at Sttebs Care Farm we have designated a recreational area set up for crafts, Horticulture and other fun tasks. We enjoy tasks adapted to the weather.

Farming is not a fair-weather job; we do work all year round in all weather conditions, so we do ask everyone to come prepared with correct clothing. We still require waterproofs even on sunny days if we are working with the animals.

Your Teacher/Farm Manager

Natalia runs the farm and is a fully qualified teacher, with vast experience working with vulnerable groups of people. She is always there with a friendly face to welcome you.