Trauma Informed Farm Animal Assisted Neurotherapy and Green Care Farming for Neurodiverse Conditions

Abstract

Farm animal assisted therapy is a novel way of interacting with neurodiverse children/adolescents, particularly those with early childhood trauma, and may help rewire brain circuits through entrainment with the gentle sounds and rhythms of a farm. This chapter will explore farm animal assisted therapy as a type of neurotherapy using a backdrop of Dream Catcher Meadows, a sanctuary for orphaned, injured and rescued farm animals whose personal stories help with bonding and attachment in neurodiverse and traumatized children and teens. Farms provide rich opportunities for language development, executive functions, sensory desensitization, skill development, fine/gross motor development, and parent-child bonding. The author provides historical and clinical perspectives to explain how farm animal assisted neurotherapy and green care farming provided within a comprehensive array of school, home, and community interventions can help neurodiverse children and teens develop a sense of community, meaning and purpose as well as adaptive functions for success in life. A range of techniques model empathy, compassion, theory of mind concepts, social communication/perception, and self-regulation through mindfulness, interspecies bonding, and entrainment. The history of Dream Catcher Meadows and case discussions from clinical practice elaborate therapeutic perspectives, augmented by session scenarios and non-clinical photographs.

1. Introduction: neurodevelopmental conditions vs. mental illness

Neurodevelopmental disorder associated with prenatal alcohol exposure (ND-PAE) [1] and related neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g., autism spectrum disorder) are complex, heterogeneous neurophenotypes that have few well-researched treatments outside of comprehensive institutional-based and multidisciplinary models [2, 3]. One in 20 American youth have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), also known as Neurodevelopmental Disorder associated with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure (ND-PAE; ICD-10 F88). According to the National Institutes of Health, FASD/ND-PAE is the leading, preventable cause of birth defects and developmental disabilities [4]. Approximately 1 in 58 Americans are estimated to have Autistic Disorder (ICD-10 F84.0). Individuals with ND-PAE/FASD can have co-morbid autism, which has a higher neurophenotypic expression with prenatal alcohol exposure [5]. Severe and persistent mental illness (SMI) is more prevalent in individuals with FASD/ND-PAE [6] and autism [7], worsened by a history of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Thus, neurodevelopmental disorders (i.e., atypical neurophenotypes) can be precursors for SMI, including schizophrenia spectrum [8] and personality disorders (PDs) [9]. In modern psychiatry dominated by psychopharmacology, clinicians often resort to a plethora of antipsychotics and stimulants, which can have metabolic and growth effects in pediatric populations [10].

For children and adolescents with relatively higher functioning (i.e., mild or no intellectual disability), their symptoms may go relatively unnoticed by clinicians (i.e., pediatricians or primary care providers). In the classroom and home, their externalizing behaviors are often seen as willful, oppositional or defiant rather than involuntary reactions (internal dysregulation) to stress, trauma, anxiety or sensory sensitivities. For many of these children, social communication issues, sensory disintegration, executive dysfunctions, and emotional dysregulation (Figure 1) make it difficult for them to adapt to the expectations and pressures of school, home and the community, leading to vulnerability to psychosis during transition years (ages 17 to 24). Normal developmental resiliency factors (friendships, recreational activities, family ties, self-care, hobbies, etc.) are more elusive for neurodiverse individuals who may become more socially disenfranchised, reclusive, oppositional, defiant, noncompliant, and isolated from peer groups during adolescent years. The COVID-19 pandemic compounded the social isolation, which was complicated by a relative growth in virtual social connections, subsequently making the transition back to “real world” school quite challenging.

Figure 1.

Neurodevelopmental domains.

There are multiple, complex etiologies for neurodevelopmental conditions, including epigenetic, genetic issues, preconceptional, prenatal and early life experiences, as well as evidence for alterations in the gut-brain microbiota [11]. Early and comprehensive intervention and treatment improves prognosis in children with an accurate neurodiverse diagnosis [12]. Traditional psychiatric and psychologically-based therapeutic approaches (i.e., talk therapy, play therapy, insight-oriented therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy) may be inadequate or inappropriate [13] due to difficulties with insight, attachment-related transference problems, or metacognitive skills. For an individual to achieve a relatively comfortable, happy life, one must master Maslow’s hierarchy - a difficult feat in today’s world, especially for neurodiverse individuals. As Victor Frankl and Abraham Maslow taught, having meaning in one’s life helps overcome almost any difficulty and is one of the keys to resiliency.

Theory of mind – being able to interpret the thoughts and feelings of another person, or ‘mind reading,’ was coined in 1978 by Premack and Woodruff. Being able to accurately interpret the meaning of facial expressions or implicit language is an important trait for human social communication. Many children with neurodiverse conditions are unable to use theory of mind to understand what others may be thinking in their minds and may appear callous and unemotional in their social interactions, seeming to lack empathy and have maladaptive social behaviors. These social challenges can lead to parent-child relational issues, interpersonal relationships, and existential crises as young people with neurodevelopmental issues transition into young adulthood. They often have significant difficulty with adaptive functions (i.e., conceptual, social and practical skills) important for development of successful school performance, friendships, and employment. Neurodevelopmental issues are often overlooked in individuals with relatively average intellectual functioning without significant speech and language issues, although they have significant deficits in social, conceptual and practical (i.e., adaptive) functions.

Neuroatypical individuals often lack the requisite adaptive functions and social supports to achieve Maslow’s hierarchy (i.e., food/clothing/shelter; safety/security; love/belonging/sense of community; and meaning/purpose) on their own. Neurotypical peers in mainstreamed public school settings are often are ill-equipped to respond to maladaptive social behaviors, which can cause the atypical youth to feel disenfranchised, alienated, and isolated from their classmates. Over the years between elementary and middle school, it becomes relatively difficult for them to feel part of a friend group outside of the virtual reality of online gaming. Thus, their sense of belonging and community are restricted by their social dysmaturity. In our modern day of functional societies disrupted by pandemics, school shootings, global warming/climate change [14], social media, social injustices, even neurotypical youth have difficulty finding a sense of fulfillment, meaning and purpose. Relatively high functioning (i.e., not intellectually disabled) individuals with psychiatric, neurologic, and other brain-related disorders have problems transitioning to meaningful vocations and purposeful lives.

2. History of psychiatric farms

Farm animal assisted therapy is an emerging therapy for complex patients, particularly individuals with neurodiverse conditions, adverse childhood experiences, and associated maladaptive attachment. A farm as a third place for “community” meets an individual’s need for Maslow’s connection/belonging and meaning/purpose to improve mental health [15]. There is historic precedence for farms in mental health treatment, although seemingly a relatively archaic cultural construct in our modern world. The earliest psychiatric “asylums” (aka, “sanctuaries”) were on farms as a milieu for treatment of individuals with severe mental health, intellectual disability, and neurodevelopmental conditions. Examples of the original institutions situated on large pastoral farms included Spring Grove [16], Forest Haven [17, 18], (previously the District Training School for the Mentally Retarded) and Springfield State [19] Hospitals in Maryland and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital [20] in Washington, DC.

An institutional mileau was defined as therapeutic if it met certain criteria as outlined in Community as Doctor: [21] “to provide the contexts and facilities for the kinds of social processes and interpersonal relations that will bring about the following effects on patients:

1. provide the patient with experiences that will minimize distortions of reality;

2. facilitate realistic and meaningful communicative exchange with others;

3. facilitate participation with others so that s/he derives greater satisfaction and security there from;

4. reduce anxiety and increase comfort;

5. increase self-esteem;

6. provide insight into the causes and manifestations of mental illness;

7. mobilize initiative and motivate the individual to realize potential for creativity and productivity.” [22]

These tenants, largely based on Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs [23], provided the essence for treatment of patients on large sprawling farms where doctors, nurses, staff and administrators lived in a community with patients who also worked in most operational aspects of the farm – from the kitchen to groundskeeping, gardens, animal husbandry, and even the gift shop. While quite paternalistic, these farms had the potential to provide a short-term sense of community and purpose in a relatively safe milieu. While living and working on the farms’ fields of blueberries and blackberries, orchards and gardens, patients may have improved their adaptive functions but, unfortunately, often were not integrated back into the community in the unlikely event of discharge.

Decreasing funding in the 1960s led to harsh treatment, abuse, and neglect of patients by ill-trained, poorly supervised staff [17]. Forest Haven, which was located in Laurel, Maryland and operated by the District of Columbia opened in 1925 and was closed on October 14, 1991 “by order of a federal judge after years of physical and sexual abuse, medical incompetence, 10 deaths from aspiration pneumonia, and hundreds of other deaths under suspicious circumstances” [24, 25]. Thus, state-run psychiatric “sanctuaries” became warehouses to hide away people with mental illness from mainstream western society where they were seen as ill-suited or “unfit” to conform with social norms. When Dr. Roger Peele took over as medical director of St. Elizabeth’s in the mid-1970s, he approached the director of NIH to request money to pay the patients for their labor. A time limited grant of $1 million was allocated for patient salaries, which lasted approximately 1 year before the farm and gardens were dismantled due to lack of funding for paying patients minimum wage [26]. Truly for a program to be sustainable, there must be ongoing funding that is not tied to political beliefs or economic instability.

With the necessary deinstitutionalization of the state psychiatric hospitals, communities received time-limited federal funding for community-based programs in the mid-1970s [27]. Therapies that may have been used in the asylums, such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech/language therapy, recreational therapy, and art therapy were theoretically incorporated into community mental health, public or privately run allied health agencies, or corporate-owned residential treatment programs. Other programs, such as horticulture therapy, aqua therapy (swimming), and working with farm animals gradually disappeared from all but a few privately owned residential treatment centers. One of these, Green Chimneys in Brewster, NY, focuses on individuals with autism and intellectual disability who may have co-morbid mental health challenges. According to their website, “Founded in 1947 and headquartered on a farm and wildlife center in Brewster, NY, with a second campus in Carmel, NY, Green Chimneys is recognized as a worldwide leader in animal-assisted therapy and educational activities for children with special needs. Green Chimneys services include an accredited special education school on two campuses; residential treatment center; nature-based therapeutic programs; community-based support for youth and families; and public education and recreation opportunities for all ages. Each of our programs celebrates the dignity and worth of all living things. Green Chimneys is a pioneer in animal and nature-based therapy, striving to create a harmonious relationship among children, animals and the environment incorporating an array of educational, residential, recreational, and mental health services. Through innovative therapies and tools to teach critical life skills, we help youth reclaim their childhood, discover their self-worth and create a future for themselves as independent, contributing adults.” Green Chimneys is a model program for other states to follow.

Over the past three decades since deinstitutionalization, large tracks of state-owned asylums have devolved into dilapidated, asbestos-contaminated dormitory buildings riddling expansive landscapes. Many states still own hundreds of acres of land with sprawling abandoned campuses standing as a reminder of the dystopian, patriarchal institutional mental health system. With the disbursement of neurodevelopmentally impaired and traumatized patients into local communities that lacked resources to address their complex needs, deinstitutionalization eventually led to a rise in imprisonment and homelessness of people with mental illness [28].

3. What is farm animal assisted therapy?

As the institutional farms were being dismantled, across Europe and North America, a new humanistic movement [29] arose from social psychology called “green care,” “social farming,” “care farming,” “therapeutic farming,” or “farming for health” [30]. These modalities emerged within nature immersive experiential approaches, such as wilderness therapy, horticulture therapy, and various types of animal assisted therapy (e.g., equine, pet, multi-species). Green care has been piloted as a way to improve social, recreational, and vocational functioning in mental health [31], dementia care [32], cognitive decline [33], trauma [34], parent-child relational (attachment) issues [35], autism [36] and other disabilities [37]. Farming for health provides social connections, meaningful activities, practical skill development, and the health benefits of nature. Therapeutic farming also has been proposed as a way to improve access to mental health care for rural communities [38]. Equine assisted psychotherapy [39] has been utilized with transitional age youth in both outpatient and residential treatment centers to improve attachment, resiliency, and trust and to regain emotional regulation. A resurgence of horticulture therapy [40] has led to community-based mental health programs operating urban, suburban [41], and rural gardens [42]. Examples of green care farms are Nourishing Hearts Wellness Care Farm in Ontario, Canada [43] (privately owned and operated by Julie Casey MSW) and The Farm at Penny Lane in North Carolina (operated by UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry) [44].

Farm animal assisted therapy combines “green care” and “animal assisted therapy” [45] to augment more traditional strategies, including psychoeducation, cognitive behavioral therapy, supportive, insight-oriented psychotherapy, and psychopharmacology practiced in the milieu of a farm. Farm animal assisted psychotherapy has been used internationally to improve child-parent bonds, reduce anxiety, improve social relatedness, increase adaptive functions, and reduce the barriers to access. The aim of both green care and farm animal assisted therapy is to provide a safe/secure environment with human-animal connections to promote a sense of belonging and community and activities that inspire self-esteem, meaning and purpose. The human-animal connection [46] began at the earliest points in humanity when the first animals were tamed and domesticated by humans – perhaps as early as the neolithic period. The canine was a beloved companion who gave warmth, helped hunt for prey, protected early modern humans from predators, and likely provided comfort through a unique human-animal bond. Mammals have a similar basal ganglia as humans – controlling a range of functions from emotions, to motor control, learned behaviors, and executive functions. It is not surprising that our family pets respond to our emotions, providing a sense of comfort, security, and companionship. In the safety and security of the farm, individuals find a sense of love and belonging with the animals, surrounded by nature, and may begin to feel a sense of meaning and purpose with more time interacting and learning about the animals.

Multisensory therapeutic approaches provided from hands-on experiences with gentle farm animals has the potential to improve emotional regulation, social communication, neurocognitive and sensory/motor issues common in both ND-PAE/FASD and ASD [47]. Interacting with gentle farm animals provides novel sights, sounds, smells, and textures; entrainment with the sounds and vibrations of animals; social connections with beings with healthy attachment behaviors; nonverbal cues; and emotional expression. The quiet yet multisensory environment of a farm provides hands on experiences to desensitize to touch, textures, sounds, smells, and other sensory inputs (i.e., bugs, soil, sunshine, water, crowing roosters, bleating goats, neighing horses, odiferous poo patties, or other common farm phenomena). Even chickens clucking and pecking at grain becomes an opportunity to explore social communication in an indirect, nonthreatening way (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Chickens clucking and pecking.

Farm animal assisted therapy is a way for a licensed therapist or psychiatrist to interact with adults, teens and children with a wide range of neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions who may have difficulty tolerating more traditional office-based or institutional settings (e.g., due to fluorescent lighting, people in the waiting room, noises coming from other offices, etc.). Children with neurodevelopmental issues benefit from multimodal therapy to assist with their sensory issues, dysmaturity, mood dysregulation, heightened arousal, impulsivity, attention deficits, hyperactivity, coordination and balance issues and other motor deficits, and speech and language problems. Children who have difficulty picking up on social cues, have poor eye contact with peers and adults, and other social communication issues learn to interact with animals without fear of misunderstandings or maladaptive behaviors. Children become relaxed and are more easily able to overcome their insecurities and sensitivities while petting, grooming, playing with or hand-feeding animals sitting nearby. Like traditional play therapy, the therapist assesses, comments on, analyzes, and redirects a child’s reactions during the therapy session to help move the patient past certain ways of viewing the world (e.g., anxious, suspicious, pessimistic, angry). Perspectives can be analyzed and reflected back in a more positive way to improve self-concept and perception about others. Cognitive distortions can be examined in a non-threatening way from the objective view of the animals, much like examining a storybook character or comic superhero.

Children with adverse childhood experiences (trauma) may have difficulty trusting a therapist or psychiatrist, becoming anxious, angry, or hyperaroused during therapy sessions. Gently raised farm animals provide unconditional love, bonding and attachment cues that are important in socialization of children with a variety of neurodevelopmental differences. Holding, touching and stroking the fur and feathers of animals allows a bond of attachment to form within a child or teen to improve trust and interpersonal connection with the therapist. Activities on the farm such as brushing the horses, feeding the chickens grain by hand, petting and massaging the pig, taking hay to the goats, and sitting quietly interacting with the juvenile emus provides social connections and builds trust with the animals and their bonded therapist. The animals offer opportunity to develop trust through contact with unconditionally loving and accepting beings who provide comfort, joy, and novelty while working with the trained therapist.

A highly anxious, traumatized patient who was adopted as a teen from an orphanage commented when she walked into the paddock with the goats for the first time (Figure 3): “I feel very uncomfortable that they [the 14 goats] are all looking at me…I’ve got to get out of here!” It was an opportunity to explore the automatic thoughts that arise when people in a group turn to look at her (e.g., when she walks into a classroom after others are seated, when she raises her hand to speak in class, as she is walking around a crowded grocery or department store and makes eye contact with strangers). Using the goats’ perspectives (i.e., non-biased, non-judgmental, neutral), we discussed and analyzed her thought distortions and negative self-talk leading from feelings of social anxiety that trigger her “fight or flight” response. Resulting cognitive distortions (aka, misperceptions about the goats) cause her to assume she can “mind read” (i.e., “they do not like me…, why are they looking at me? …they think I’m weird”). This cross talk between her automatic thoughts and negative self-talk then spiral into paranoia in public settings, family gatherings, and peer groups. Insight into these areas of their maladaptive social perspectives can shift to positive self-talk using a cognitive behavioral approach.

Figure 3.

Goats looking at a person can create arousal similar to a group of people.

Theory of mind is possible when one person is able to accurately interpret the intentions, thoughts or feelings of another by analyzing vocalizations, nonverbal cues, and context of a situation. By scattering grain for the chickens then discussing what hens might mean as they peck and cluck about the coop (Figure 2) allows the child a non-threatening, objective perspective to explore “what others might be thinking” to develop theory of mind. Listening to the various sounds the chickens make and analyzing their social behaviors as they “talk to each other” allows a therapist to ask the child open-ended questions like: “What do you think they are talking about? Why do you think that one just pecked the other one? How did that one know there was food over there with the others?” The way chickens (especially hens) behave in a coop hierarchy is not different than the way teen girls behave in the middle school social structure. Understanding that much of the behavior is primitively wired (brain stem based), one can begin to articulate and weave the concepts of “primitive drives” and “competition” into the therapy sessions. Ultimately, the goal is for the children to be more comfortable with nonverbal cue interpretation in their peers while remaining relatively calm.

3.1 Farm animal therapy: A naturalistic form of neurotherapy

Each farm animal has its own sounds, vibrations, and unique sensory experience for the child or teen. Interacting with gently raised farm animals through their unique sounds and rhythm’s is a way to practice entrainment to re-establish one’s resonant frequency. Individuals with misophonia or sound sensitivity can desensitize while immersed in the sounds of the farm - roosters crowing, goats bleating, emus whistling (Figure 4), horses whinnying (Figure 5), pigs squealing or grunting, dogs barking and cats meowing. Sound healing works through entrainment and resonant frequency. Entrainment is the “adjustment or moderation of one behavior either to synchronize or to be in rhythm with another behavior [48].” The natural process of a rhythm compels an organism to fall into synchrony with the rhythm (i.e., clapping our hands or tapping our feet while keeping cadence with music). Likewise, entrainment can be conveyed more subtly through sound therapy, which entrains brainwaves to a slower rhythm to relax the body and mind by downregulating sympathetic overdrive. Resonant frequency is the rate at which each object or being vibrates. “Think of the body like a symphony orchestra with all parts (muscles, bones, organs, cells, etc.) having their own frequencies which, when healthy, are all in perfect rhythm and harmony. When the body systems become compromised due to physical or emotional causes, certain frequencies are affected and literally become out of tune. Just as in an orchestra, when one instrument is out of tune, nothing sounds right! Everything is affected. With sound therapy, utilizing various instruments and tones, the body is gently brought back to its natural state of harmony” [49].

Figure 4.

Emus whistling.

Figure 5.

Kingston Whinning.

Neurotherapy involves ‘rewiring’ neurons to improve brain function in some way. Neurotherapy is defined as “any neurotechnology with a therapeutic application…Common applications include mood disorder management, cognitive learning and performance improvement, and addiction or habit management… Neurotherapy, while still very early in its development, has already shown efficacy in altering brain function to provide relief to patients suffering from a range of disorders” [50]. While working with farm animals is not technology, it is a therapy that may reset the nervous system of neurodiverse populations through frequency and resonance. A series of farm animal assisted neurotherapy sessions with gently raised goats, horses, pig, and chickens can help lower a child or teen’s arousal, putting them in a calmer mood state and rewire brain circuits while engaging in activities on the farm. The process entrains the rhythms of children and adolescents with the rhythms of gently raised farm animals to provide moments of calm for recentering and practicing emotional regulation. The reassuring, caring, nurturing, accepting, validating and cocooning external world allows the child to externally regulate (i.e., external locus of control) in such a way that translates into internal regulation (i.e., internal locus of control) over time.

While neuroscience has not yet been applied to farm animal assisted therapy (i.e., examining brain waves or neural circuits before and after sessions), it is possible that this form of therapy can help “rewire” hyperaroused limbic circuits of children with conditions such as selective mutism, post traumatic stress disorder, reactive attachment disorder, and social anxiety disorder. For example, an anxious, sensory sensitive boy cautiously enters the emu enclosure with the juvenile brothers, reluctant to sit and engage due to uncertainty about the behaviors of the animals. The boy stood at the door frozen, asking - “Will they peck me? Will they like me? How will they know me?” He was visibly anxious, cautious, frozen in a state of fight/flight/freeze. The therapist gently encouraged and guided him to sit farther away from the animals to allow him to observe and be comfortable with their unusual mannerisms (baby emus have very little boundaries; will stare in a person’s face; and peck at shoe strings, jewelry, and other dangling items). While his mother sat in the enclosure feeding the emus a bouquet of weeds and grass, the boy asked whether he could feed them, too. The therapist offered him a bouquet of grasses and weeds, which the emus began to pull and peck at. When the animals were seen to enjoy his mother’s company and become comfortable enough to lie down next to her, the boy felt more comfortable to sit a bit closer in hopes of them falling to sleep by him, too. Before the session ended, he was regulated, calm and joyful – proud of being able to comfort and feed the emus. His arousal had lowered and he was no longer hyper-vigilant in dealing with the uncertainty of the situation. He then restated a few times that he was not coming back to the farm for a month because of his vacation and wondered whether the emus would remember him. The therapist reassured him that the emus are very friendly and would relate to him as well as they had this session. The process of the emus becoming comfortable in the environment (i.e., lying and sleeping next to the patient’s mom) allowed the boy to calm and self-regulate enough to eventually feed them from his hand (Figure 6).

Figure 6.

Feeding emus grass.

4. A child psychiatrist’s journey into farm animal-assisted psychotherapy

The process of incorporating multiple species of furry and feathered co-therapists into a private practice setting situated adjacent to a small nonprofit green care farm animal sanctuary evolved from a vision of a farm for treatment of neurodevelopmental disorder associated with prenatal alcohol exposure (ND-PAE) [51]. Maryland’s pristine horse farms inspired this vision to develop a therapeutic farm for children with prenatal alcohol exposure when I completed medical school and moved to the state in 2001. From a neurodevelopmental lens, these children often have adaptive functioning deficits disproportionate to their intellectual abilities, leading to problems with socialization, academic achievement, and vocational success. In 2008, I entered the realm of animal assisted psychotherapy by incorporating two guinea pigs into play therapy while working with a boy with severe reactive attachment disorder and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. His mother said she had never seen him so relaxed as when he was laying on the rug in the middle of the office with one of our family’s two guinea pigs, Buddy and Spike, on his chest. Through play therapy, Buddy worked in the mystical realm of the transitional space as a sentient “object” - “chattering” with the boy while I interpreted the guinea pig’s side of the conversation. Over the next few years, both children and adults often requested the guinea pigs join their sessions, sometimes bringing their own celery, carrots, or apples as a treat to share.

After several different rescued guinea pigs had participated as co-therapists, I hatched chicks in the spring of 2013 with my son’s Kindergarten class and my daughter’s school science fair project. My patients candled the eggs with awe in a little dark space between the doors separating my waiting area and office from my kitchen and eagerly awaited their next visit to watch the little feathery friends grow into something special – a real life attachment object. The special attachment was highlighted when two little adopted 5-year-old twin boys called on a snow day from Kindergarten, worried about how the chickens were doing outside in their coop. Though their mother had said they had not ever asked how their frail, elderly grandparents were doing, the boys woke up excitedly concerned to call and find out about “Dr. Suess’s chickens.”

Having had pet cats and a family dog growing up and cats during my adult life, I had felt connected to animals, though the deep therapeutic benefits were only apparent when seeing it first-hand in my clinical practice. Success with guinea pigs and chickens led me to read more literature on pet therapy and animal assisted psychotherapy. Chickens were being used in memory care facilities [52] – patients would remember the day of the week “Clementine, the hen” visited but could not recognize family members who cared for them daily. The reading for me became liberating and validating to my clinical findings. In 2014, we adopted a 4-month-old kitten from the Humane Society and later that year, we got a golden doodle puppy from a Mennonite family in Western, MD. The cat, Elsa, remains shy and skittish from her first few months of life living in a small cage at the shelter, so she has never been very therapeutic. Even though she is not that affectionate, many children relate to her anxiety and social phobia and she has become a way to discuss etiology of their own shyness and social isolation. There was something magical and therapeutic in the human-animal bond between children and our golden doodle puppy, Copper, who interacted like he was one of us. He would sit patiently at the waiting area door, smiling and wagging waiting for the next child to come, then greeting them with kisses and hugs as though they were his favorite person on the planet. Difficult-to-reach adolescents were asking their parents when they were coming to see me and Copper again and younger children were upset to leave by the end of the sessions. The little boy who had called about the chickens during the snowstorm had misunderstood his new nanny driving to the nearby park for playtime before his session and became so enraged that she was purposefully not taking him to the session. By the time they finally arrived in the waiting area, she was disheveled and out of breath, relating how he refused to get out of the car at the playground, insisting he had to get to his appointment with Dr. Suess and Copper.

During July 2015, my office coordinator at the time, Donna, who was a long time equestrian, mentioned therapeutic riding and other types of equine therapy for kids with autism, knowing of my quest to find solutions for the children affected by prenatal alcohol exposure. I bought several books on the topic for her daughter who was volunteering at Great and Small [53] – a local hippotherapy equine facility in our county. Donna explained that my one-acre wooded property was not large enough for even a miniature horse but a friend of hers had a pet goat that was house trained and went everywhere with her. Of course, my curiosity about potentially using goats in therapy sparked a bit of reading. They are friendly, social, and form strong attachments with humans yet are smaller and easier to manage than horses. Goats may have been the first domesticated farm animal – used for their milk, hides, meat, and warmth in the colder climates. One of the most environmentally well-adapted species, the goat is able to survive in desert conditions, temperate rain forests, and high-altitude mountain ranges. Like domesticated dogs with their human packs, goats form social bonds, have a hierarchy of herd organization, and are both loyal and dependent on the shepherd. They learn routines, can be taught to respond to certain cues, and attach to their caregiver. The goat can become a beloved farm animal assisted therapist, particularly goats rescued from dairy farms which are taken away from mother’s who are milked for profit and have no time for nursing.

The next afternoon, I read about a dairy farmer in West Virginia on Facebook looking to rehome twin baby goats and drove with my pre-teens in our Pruis V to pick them up. Dr. Tanya Fayen is a retired professor of comparative literature who now raises mixed breed pygmy and Nigerian dwarf dairy goats for people’s backyards and homestead farms. She named the twin pair Romulus and Remus, born from a teen female goat by a dwarf buck who snuck in with her unintentionally. The male kid, Romey, had been rejected by their mother who had to be tied to a milking stand to nurse him (likely not ready for parenting). She would gently and lovingly nurture her daughter, Rosie, but pushed and butted her son away. Male goats on dairy farms are typically sold for meat, although Dr. Fayen attempts to rehome them as pets. The female kid, Rosie, inherited the fainting gene from her grandmother, Noli, who had been paralyzed by the other goats in the herd who did not understand her myotonic seizures during episodes of anxiety and arousal. Like elephants who nudge their herd mates to get up when they are lame, the goats on the dairy farm unintentionally beat poor Noli till her back broke. We took in Rosie so that the same fate would not befall her. I believed taking a bonded pair of siblings would improve bonding and attachment. (Figure 7) What we learned over the next few years was that Romey’s early rejection by his birth mother made him have similar maladaptive attachment as a children with reactive attachment disorder. He, unlike our other goats, will headbutt caregivers as they attempt to put hay for him and he bullies some of the other goats. One teenaged girl with severe reactive attachment disorder and aggression toward her parents expressed insight as Romey was chasing her through the forest, “Maybe this is how my mom feels when I’m coming after her.”

Figure 7.

Romey and Rosie.

In 2016, I purchased a 6.43 acre residential farm in Potomac, MD for my home and psychiatric practice. My nonprofit, 7th Generation Foundation, Inc. was awarded 501c3 status later that year and leased 5.43 acres of the property for $0 to begin operating a green care farm animal sanctuary, Dream Catcher Meadows. Montgomery County, MD awarded two separate business permits (for the practice and farm) and my family, volunteers, and I eventually received agricultural status through the State of Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation by selling $2500 in agricultural products and having the requisite number of animals per acre to qualify as a farm. The county allows the nonprofit to provide agricultural education and tourism programs as accessory uses of the farm. These programs provide community outreach and engagement for our farm animal sanctuary. Community organizations, civic groups, volunteers, and school children and their families benefit from the green care opportunities. One of these programs, discussed later, is “Earthkeepers Kinder Farming,” a social, farm educational, and recreational activity for children and families.

In 2018, we rehomed Romey and Rosie’s disabled grandmother to the farm, Noli, who was only able to walk on her front two legs. Noli enjoyed being pulled around the farm and neighborhood in a small Radio Flyer wagon, sitting in the grass of the barnyard adjacent to the goat paddock, and lived out the next 9 months of her life being gently nurtured and loved by the 2-legged kids who visited. The children in my practice benefitted from spending time with and learning about the disabled, epileptic goat (Noli) and other disabled and injured animals. Over the years, we have rehomed a total of 16 goat kids – most of which were either rejected or orphaned by their birth moms, have minor birth defects, or would have been sold for meat due to being males on a dairy farm. Their stories have powerful meanings for the patients I treat – many of them adopted or with other adverse childhood experiences mirroring those of the animals. Our horse Kingston was rehomed to our farm after he was retired prematurely from fox hunting due to a navicular injury. These experiences seemed to help patients develop compassion and empathy for friends and family who are sick and injured in the process.

The earlier the kid is removed from his mother, the more of Maslow’s Hierarchy he needs from the human caregiver (food/shelter, safety/security, love/belonging, and meaning/purpose). In addition to a few to several times a day bottle feeding and care, a baby goat needs safety/security (protection from predatory wildlife and older/larger farm animals), love/belonging (feeling part of a herd or family); and meaning and purpose (being taken out for walks with the therapist and children, climbing on structures, and being petted and groomed). By raising the baby animal with a strong human-animal connection, the animal learns to trust and remain calm even when children are less regulated. By taking in weanlings, spending quality time with them providing nurturing and care giving, the therapist imprints on the animal, which promotes the healthy attachment bonds in the therapy session between patient and co-therapist animal. We are currently hand raising a 4-week-old Lamancha male, Rerun (Figures 8–10), who came to us through a dairy farmer in Maryland. He is cryptorchid, had an umbilical and urachus infection, and severely malnourished and anemic (likely from an infestation of goat lice, which we washed off with the vet recommended dish soap). He is under the care of the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary Medicine New Bolton Center and will return there for surgery to remove his non-descended testes. Like all the other bottle babies we have raised, he stays in the house in my bathroom at night, goes down to the barnyard in the morning during chores, and plays with the dogs and cats for socialization (Figure 11).

Figure 8.

The rescue of Rerun (selfie by co-author, BRH).

Figure 9.

Bottle feeding Rerun (photo of co-author., EKK).

Figure 10.

Four week old Rerun.

Figure 11.

Rurun and Clifford.

The approach of working with gentle, hand-raised animals works because the animals are bonded with or imprinted on me as their primary attachment figure. My children, our volunteers, and I have bottle fed several of our “baa-bies,” who call me “maa-maa.” I am their primary caregiver, so they know me and respond to me with similar attachment behaviors as children. The goats look into your eyes like dogs do, respond to emotions and facial expressions, provide nonverbal cues such as nudging and rubbing against your leg for attention, and provide a multi-sensory experience to offset anxious feelings brought on by traditional talk therapy.

5. Dream Catcher Meadows: A “Third Place” for OneHealth, Belonging, and Sustainability

A green care farm animal sanctuary can be a “real life” third place for neurodiverse individuals to learn about OneHealth while experiencing social, recreational and vocational activities. According to the Brookings Institute, “third places” play a strategic role “in strengthening our sense of community. Third places is a term coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg and refers to places where people spend time between home (‘first’ place) and work (‘second’ place). They are locations where we exchange ideas, have a good time, and build relationships…For young Americans, many third places are now virtual – from Facebook and chat rooms to group texts. But as Oldenburg notes, the most effective ones for building real community seem to be physical places where people can easily and routinely connect with each other: churches, parks, recreation centers, hairdressers, gyms and even fast-food restaurants.” [54].

The OneHealth [55] approach to environmental sustainability includes an understanding of the inextricable link between human health, animal health, and the environment we all share. Abnormalities in gut flora has been linked to a variety of mental health [56], immunological, metabolic, neurological [57], and neurodevelopmental [58] conditions. Agriculture and crops have the potential to improve gut health in humans [59]. Activities on farms - digging in soil (Figure 12), planting produce, composting to create new soil, planting trees and plants, holding bugs (Figure 13), picking berries grooming and petting the animals, and cleaning water buckets, coops, sheds, and bedding – all can contribute to improved gut (and mental) health [60]. Up to 50% of our dopamine and 90% of our serotonin manufactured in our bodies is regulated by our gut microbiome in communication with our intestinal enterochromaffin cells [61]. Likewise, interspecies physical contact provides access to a wider range of microbes accessible through transfer of natural microbiota from fur or feathers to skin (Figure 14).

Figure 12.

Digging in compost soil.

Figure 13.

Holding a praying mantis.

Figure 14.

Interspecies interactions.

In contrast to the virtual world of videogames, the multi-sensory real-life world of a farm takes longer to take apart a pallet, clean and change water buckets, or to build a structure for goats or a pig (Figure 15). The process provides meaningful life skills, collaboration, teamwork, and socialization in real life. Our “In Real Life Friends on the Farm” program for 14 to 17 year old neurodiverse individuals included a project disassembling reclaimed, used pallets from the farm which we reassembled into small foot lockers the participants could use to store their work boots. Other projects with interns and volunteers repurpose reclaimed playground equipment pallets, fencing materials, and salvaged wood into climbing bridges (Figure 16) and housing for the goats, chickens, and pig. Building these structures collaboratively allows the teens to become invested in the infrastructure of the farm and see the fruits of their volunteerism enjoyed by the animals. Thus, the farm provides a safe space for community organizations to bring groups of young adults with neurodevelopmental issues, for students to earn service learning hours, for children to gain social and recreational opportunities, and for high school students to learn life skills and improve adaptive functions (Figure 17). Even our weekend volunteers (Figure 18) enjoy activities on the farm–expressing relief from the stress of working in special needs classrooms, attending virtual high school, being sequestered during the pandemic, and re-entering the real world post-pandemic. An overview of the farm provides perspectives from local high school students and their parents who volunteered at the farm during the pandemic. (Video 1 available from: https://archive.org/details/mccmd-Dream_Catcher_Meadows and Video 2 available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMWHxMEPiH8).

Figure 15.

Noah’s house made from reclaimed materials.

Figure 16.

Goat climbing structure made from reclaimed building materials and pallets.

Figure 17.

Vocational skills development.

Figure 18.

Weekend volunteers.

The operations of the farm can be both environmentally and financially sustainable by: transplanting and promoting growth of native species of plants; encouraging growth of volunteer fruiting seeds from compost soil; utilizing the natural fertilizers and soil conditioners; reclaiming building materials to reduce construction costs; minimizing contract labor costs by negotiating nonprofit fee rates with local businesses; collaborating with scouting and other nonprofit groups for volunteer experiences; working with teen and young adult volunteers to provide animal care (Figures 19 and 20); and obtaining grants for capital improvements to the infrastructure. Cost savings can be achieved by asking local contractors for nonprofit rates, purchasing reclaimed materials on Facebook Marketplace, and engaging community members who may be willing to donate unused building supplies. We have completed dumpster dives where lumber has been discarded, picked up foam board insulation and slat wall for our welcome center, and hauled pallets from the trash heap of local stores to reuse for the goat paddock. These lower cost or no cost options increase our ability to provide a healthier environment for the animals while improving our infrastructure more affordably. We have had recycled asphalt donated by a local road paving company, extending the driveway to the barn and registration booth. A local nonprofit food redistributor delivers excess and unusable produce, bread, and grain from their warehouse to the farm for our pig, chickens, horses and goats. [Farm operations must include regular veterinary care of the animals, including recommended vaccinations and deworming of goats, horses and other livestock; hoof care; upkeep of the sheds, stalls, and coops; and maintenance of fencing and enclosures to ensure safety and hygiene of the animals and people.]

Figure 19.

One of our coauthors, EKK, feeding our rescued pig, Noah.

Figure 20.

One of our coauthors, BRH, ground training our horse, Kingston.

Environmental sustainability is enhanced through biodynamic approaches at the farm. We collect sustainable wood (fallen tree branches, limbs, and logs) for use in the wood stove, landscaping projects, and outdoor fireplace. Mowed grass can be used to supplement feed in the chicken coop, pulled weeds and vines are forage for the goats, and donated produce can provide much needed nutrients to all the animals. Rotting produce in the compost will repopulate pumpkin plants, gourds, tomatoes, and other hearty species to prevent replanting year after year. Native species of bees are encouraged through building pollinator hotels rather than the more invasive species of honeybees, which were brought to North America by the European colonists. By carefully mowing out invasive (nonnative) species, transplanting baby volunteer native perennials, and allowing native species of grasses, trees and bushes to repopulate the open lawn, we ensure that the more hearty species more successfully return year after year. Biodynamic methods of waste redistribution include “fertilizing” the plants with goat pellets, enriching the soil around plants and bushes with horse manure (Figure 21), lasagna gardening techniques when building new flower beds, and in-ground composting of kitchen debris (coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells, paper towels, paper plates, napkins, Kleenexes). (Figure 22) [Our practice of “in ground composting” produces a very rich, nearly black soil that we eventually hope to sell for financial sustainability of farm operations.] Sales of our goat manure, eggs, and produce helped secure the county’s agricultural designation for purposes of taxation – another step toward financial sustainability.

Figure 21.

Horse manure around bush.

Figure 22.

Compost soil.

By connecting with existing community organizations who provide volunteer opportunities for neurodiverse and neurotypical youth and young adults, operating costs (e.g., human resources, administrative costs) are minimized in order to maximize our reach in the community. We have had three Eagle Scouts complete projects for the farm, including building a bee hive, two mobile chicken coops, and a pollinator hotel with flower gardens. One Boy Scout is currently designing wooden benches for our barnyard area. We host agriculture education field trips and volunteer experiences in coordination with other local nonprofits serving neurotypical and neurodiverse young adults in day programs. We have hotsted both typical and special education schools and partial hospital programs for environmental/agricultural recreational and educational outings. We provide student service learning opportunities through our local school systems for middle and high school students to learn about sustainability and restorative agriculture while participating in projects on the farm. [Adult volunteers are background checked for the safety of younger children who may be participating in a group].

5.1 Green care farming: agricultural education groups offer social and recreational engagement

Green care farms create a community-based space for Maslow’s elements of belonging and purpose through socialization and recreational activities that incorporate education about biodynamic agriculture. These activities are distinct from “therapy” and do not require a licensed mental health provider. Agricultural education and agricultural tourism have long been allowed on farms, with school children participating to learn about animals, the environment, and where their food comes from. Farm experiences facilitate a sense of community with meaning and purpose, particularly when a purposeful group project is introduced (e.g., building a lean-to structure for the animals, germinating and planting flowers for pollinators or pumpkins for animal feed, or burying compost). The children and teens enjoy walking through the pasture and forest with the goats and horses, practicing mindfulness while hand feeding the chickens, watching the antics of the orphaned pig, and helping socialize the baby emu brothers (our newest edition at Dream Catcher Meadows).

Inclusive group experiences on a green care farm provides a nature-immersive milieu for atypical and neurotypical peers to learn about environmental sustainability and restorative agriculture while caring for farm animals, engaging in recreational activities, and practicing healthy social skills. Our “In Real Life #IRL Friends on the Farm” program during the summer and fall of 2020 offered adopted 14 to17 year-olds with an outdoor social opportunity during the pandemic so that they could engage with peers, explore nature, and find meaningful (nonvirtual) experiences. During the summer of 2021, teens came for one-on-one experiences with a young engineer for the day to assist with building projects (i.e., an enclosed mini-barn for our pig made with reclaimed building supplies and 2 feet walls packed with straw stuffed inside feed bags, repairing goat structures and fencing, etc.). These experiences provided a sense of community for overcoming isolation and boredom during the pandemic and offered a purposeful project-based activity.

More recently, our “Earthkeepers Kinder Farming” program for both neurotypical and neurodiverse 8 to 12-year-olds and their parents, provides a sense of meaning and purpose outside of the academic environment through farm experiences with peers. The two-hour weekend social group provides education about restorative agriculture, composting to sequester carbon, the concept of One Health (environmental health being inextricably linked to human health), the connection between the soil and the human gut microbiome, growing vegetables and other produce, and animal care. The aim is to provide the children with a sense of safety, belonging/community, and meaning and purpose. Parents likewise enjoy sharing responsibilities like feeding the horses their grain, sitting in mindfulness sessions with the baby emus and chickens, grooming the pig, and forest bathing. Sessions are typically co-facilitated with a college student and/or school teacher along with the green care farmer.

During the first session in March 2022, the children identified the most common worrisome problems of the earth from their school lectures and news reports (e.g., climate change/global warming, water pollution, landfills, decreasing biodiversity) to develop a consensus strategic plan, including a mission statement and realistic goals. They called out their concerns as the facilitator scribed on the chalkboard. The children then translated their problem statement into a mission statement to help solve some of the Earth’s problems, including poor soil quality, trash in the oceans, global warming, and mistreatment of animals. Their pledge (recited at the beginning of each session) is: “The mission of the Earthkeepers (The World Leaders Squad) is to reduce the problems of the Earth affecting life and health by: 1. Composting to make soil to sequester carbon; 2. Picking up trash in our homes, schools and communities; 3. Planting trees and plants; and 4. Taking care of animals.” (Figure 23).

Figure 23.

Earthkeepers pledge.

A typical Saturday morning Earthkeepers social group would begin with a morning meeting in the clubhouse reciting the pledge (Figure 24) before enjoying a cup of hot chocolate and brownies or pancakes. During weekly or bi-weekly morning meetings, we discuss the strategies we are going to use to meet our eco-goals after feeding the chickens and pig, changing water buckets (Figure 25), taking the goats for a walk in the pasture and forest (Figure 26), letting the horses out to graze or grooming them. Some of the children will bring leftover food or slightly expired produce to feed the animals and/or waste from the kitchen to compost. Group participants decide what activities they would like to do and guide the group leader in the sequence of the 2-hour session. When we are developing our to do list for the day, one might call out: “I want to feed the chickens!” or “Please can I change the water buckets?” or “Can I feed Kingston [the horse] with my mom?” and the facilitator writes down their name next to the activity, with the adult or teen volunteer in charge of the activity.

Figure 24.

Morning meeting and pledge.

Figure 25.

Changing water buckets.

Figure 26.

Goats for walk in pasture.

After completing the morning animal care, the children will suggest the next activity: “Can we go to the mindfulness log now?” The mindfulness log is a very large fallen tree in the forest, adjacent to a neighbor’s property with a large pond with fountains (Figure 27). We sit on the log quietly listening to the sounds of nature, smelling the decaying leaves, feeling the gentle breeze and hardness of the log beneath, and watching the green leaves contrasted against the blue sky. Another child might say, “Then can we roll down the hill?” The children attend seasonal sessions (spring, summer, fall, and winter), watching the birth and hibernation of life with the fluctuation of weather patterns. During the summer and fall, we pick wild wine berries, wild grapes, ground cherries, flowers, pumpkins, and decorative gourds. We also collect the freshly laid multi-colored chicken eggs (Figure 28), sending cartons home with the kids to compare to the store-bought variety. These multisensory experiences (sights, sounds, smells, textures, and flavors) provide sensory desensitization to help the children become more confident and regulated under a variety of environmental stimulating conditions.

Figure 27.

Community civic group visits the mindfulness log.

Figure 28.

Multicolored eggs.

Depending on the season, we plant and weed flower beds, transplant small seedlings and saplings, water plants, and prepare beds for the next growing season. Last fall, we harvested seeds from donated pumpkins that we fed to the chickens and pig, germinated and transplanted them to beds we made from the manure and muck collected from the horse paddock (Figures 29 and 30). An annual “Farm Week” includes making name plate door signs out of reclaimed lumber (Figure 31), participating in animal care, forest bathing with the goats (Figure 32), interacting with the horses (Figure 33), making and shooting off biodegradable rockets to reseed the pasture with seeds and goat poo (Figures 34 and 35), swimming in the pool (Figure 36), and learning about the medicine wheel approach to a holistic healthy lifestyle (Figure 37).

Figure 29.

Germinated pumpkin seeds.

Figure 30.

Pumkin plants.

Figure 31.

Making name plate.

Figure 32.

Forest bathing with goats.

Figure 33.

Interacting with the horses.

Figure 34.

Filling rocket with goat poo and seeds.

Figure 35.

Shooting a homemade rocket.

Figure 36.

Pool time.

Figure 37.

Medicine wheel garden.

Three youngsters who had been coming to the farm for Earthkeepers social group activities and two of them for Farm Week were interviewed with their parents. Children commented that their favorite part about the experience was meeting new friends, belonging to a group, interacting with the animals, learning about nature, and feeling included. Here are some of their comments:

• “The farm is very nice. It really brings out the idea that anything we do can make a difference. When I first met my friends here, I said ‘I’m pretty much set…anybody can be themselves and there’s no criticism about what you do.’” Their parent added: “It’s kind of like a magical oasis in the midst of a dry and barren land. It’s a physically beautiful place stewarded by a kind, loving, patient person and her family and friends where children and adults can learn something about reality.”

• “I like this farm because I get to see animals and I get to learn to be calm with animals and not to be afraid of my fears and other emotions and how to interact with other people.” Their parent expressed: “…deep love of the animals, calming atmosphere, nature and pure relaxation you feel at the farm.”

• “I love how I can be with the animals and all my friends and have fun at the same time.” Their parent added: “Coming to the farm is her happy place. Taking care of the animals has taught her how to understand responsibility at home.”

6. Conclusions

Children and adolescents with neurodiverse conditions and trauma histories can benefit from neurotherapy licensed mental health professional interacting with gently raised farm animals. The green care farm at Dream Catcher Meadows combines a sanctuary for rescued, injured, orphaned, unwanted, and birth defected farm animals with social, recreational and agriculture educational opportunities for both atypical and neurotypical youth. The nonprofit green care farm is a mileu for group activities, like Earthkeepers, to provide a third place to find a sense of belonging and purpose. The farm is also an adjunct individual therapy site for experiential therapy with a licensed, board-certified child/adolescent psychiatrist. By linking with local farmers, 4-H programs, farm animal veterinary centers, and/or leasing space on a smaller hobby farm, psychiatrists and mental health professionals can improve their ability to connect with and treat a wider variety of patients who may not respond as well to typical mental health treatment. Community-based farm animal assisted therapy and green care farms may ultimately reduce the economic cost of residential care and/or mental illness for complex patients with neurodevelopmental histories and adverse childhood experiences. Future funding opportunities to research and collaborate with other mental health networks and public sector agencies may help extend the practice of farm animal-assisted neurotherapy into other communities and global regions.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Katie Thompson and Alicia Rose for sharing their photos, listening to the ideas and the initial conceptualization of the chapter, providing a reference for “entrainment,” and including their perspectives about the history of psychiatric institutional farms.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Notes/thanks/other declarations

Special thank you to our Earthkeepers and their parents for contributing your perspectives about the farm and allowing some of your photos to be used in the article; to my 2-legged teens for putting up with my journal writing, farming, and neurodiverse perspective; to our small dedicated army of Earthkeeper ambassadors for helping with farm operations and groups, and to our furry and feathered friends who make the farm such a special “third place” for kids, teens and volunteers in our community. We would also like to thank all the Boy Scouts of America who have completed their Eagle Scout projects for the betterment of the farm and Dr. Rocket for envisioning, creating and facilitating our successful rocket launches of soil conditioner into the pastures. We are also grateful for Jeremy Fedors, MS and Eliane Ferreria, MSPH for giving of their time, energy, love and generosity to build, improve, care for, and ensure the sustainability of Dream Catcher Meadows and 7th Generation Foundation, Inc. We also would like to acknowledge the State of Maryland for a very generous $50,000 bond bill in 2018 for capital improvements toward our 5.63 acre pasture and paddock fencing and 2018 and 2019 community grants in matching funds of $50,000 from Montgomery County, MD for new roofs, gutters, painting and repairs to our barn and outbuildings.