Healing Soil

Wednesday evening I (with others) visited Top Barn Farm. Along with "ordinary" agriculture they have an established training centre for people with learning difficulties. Trainees work with horticulture & agriculture. They vary in age from teenage to 70s.
Also on the farm is the "Good Soil" project, working with some of Worcester's most prolific offenders - many of whom are dealing with serious drug habits. A typical drug habit will cost around £100 per day in heroin. Mostly that is funded by crime and, because stolen goods usually realise about 1/10th of their face value a "typical" drug user will steal around £1,000 worth of goods per day. It costs significantly less than that to keep someone on the project, and a lot less than prison so even if the project made no difference to any of them in the long run, it still represents excellent value for money.
The most recent innovation on the farm is a unit for excluded pupils.
For all these different people working with God's creation helps bring healing.

That concept of contact with the earth bringing healing is the idea behind Care Farming. More information about Care Farming here. This lunch time saw the launch of the West Midlands Care Farm Network. Money from Advantage West Midlands is being used to try and develop another 20 care farms in the region.

The launch took place at The Fold at Bransford and the photo is of the farmer explaining the cropping plans for the vegetable and how the order of horticulture will bring order into the lives of those who participte in the project