Yesterday we spent a lovely day at an open-house at Windreach Farm, a 109-acre farm outside of Whitby that is fully accessible for the disabled. Windreach was founded in 1989 by Alexander J. Mitchell, who has cerebral palsy, loves farming and nature, and wants people with special needs to be able to experience it.
All week Jon was truly excited about “going apple-picking at the farm!”, though he showed apprehension about other things: he didn’t want to see cows (Jon doesn’t like them because of an extremely loud THX commercial involving mooing); once at the farm he didn’t want to go on the hayride.
Jon ended up tolerating (though not really liking) the cows; laughed at the pigs’ snorting; admired the alpacas (a relation of the llama, a character in one of his favourite book series); but fell in love with the goats, feeding them lots of pellet treats and happily scratching their heads. Meanwhile, Peter made friends with the pigs, giving them some good back scratches and having them fall all over themselves (literally) to get closer for more. Since the pigs are so muddy and (somewhat) stinky I don’t think they generally get much affection from visitors!
Jon with very calm rabbit
Jon and Dad with one of the three little pigs. Yes, those are their names.
Jon with Jazz, a Nubian goat
The apple-picking was fun and easy—we quite quickly collected 20 lbs. of McIntosh, Empire and Wealthy apples (the last variety I hadn’t heard of before, though they resemble Macs somewhat). The trees are all dwarf trees, so are accessible to people of all heights. The Empire trees were virtually covered in fruit—they looked almost like clusters of grapes. So I guess I’d better git me some pies a-bakin’!
Jon and Mom in front of the apple trees
We coaxed an anxious Jon onto the wheelchair-accessible “hayride” (the wagon had a ramp and one space with chair tie-downs—”just like my schoolbus!”—among the hay bales). Of course, as soon as it started to move a big grin split his face, and he thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the ride.
Add to that facepainting and a lunch of hot dogs and nachos, and all-in-all Jon was pretty pleased with the day.
Lookit my warpaint!
No comment yet
Loris says:
October 5, 2005 at 7:36 pm (UTC 0)
I know I missed Jon’s birthday and said I’d get him something later when exactly the right present came to mind — well, your baby goat is coming by UPS tomorrow. The apple-picking pictures showed it was the best posisible present — and I know you need a little extra commotion in your lives. Just shove a few books aside in the livingroom and he’ll be fine.
Goat kibble included.
Loris
Laura says:
October 6, 2005 at 5:52 pm (UTC 0)
Hmmm–it’s tomorrow, and no goat. Hope it has airholes. I dunno about UPS; we’ve always used FedEx when we have to ship ungulates—better keep that in mind next time!
Mary Mooney says:
January 18, 2006 at 1:54 pm (UTC 0)
Hello!
Was googling around to see how long it took for our website to come up, and found your wonderful story about WindReach Farm (before our website I might add!). Would you like to be our mailing list so you can hear about our upcoming events? If so, please email me at mary.windreach@sympatico.ca
We all love your pictures – it’s wonderful to see our visitors having such a good time at our special farm.
Regards,
Mary Mooney