People often ask me how we started Kindred Spirits Care Farm. For years I have told people about the process, how 3 friends spent a weekend trying to design the very best, most useful, most beneficial non-profit we could imagine. After a weekend of work, we came up with the sustainable care farm concept. That is the HOW of the process, but it does not explain WHY we think sustainable care farms are the best response to the issues of our day.

What we saw and continue to see is the extraordinary disconnect that has happened to humanity. In our search for safety, comfort and entertainment, we have lost our connections. We have lost our connection with the earth, her cycles, her wonders, her ability to inspire. We treat her like we treat everything, just another profit object to be leveraged for maximum benefit to a few humans.

We have lost our connection to the billions of other beings on this planet, the birds, bees, bugs, and animals. Again, they are treated either as profit objects or pests to be destroyed. We have lost the diversity of species that is so critical to survival of the entire biosphere. We have lost respect for life in all her forms in the search to ensure that humanity can have everything we think we want.

And we have lost even our connection to ourselves. We blindly accept ideas and practices that need us to kill off parts of ourselves. When we accept that some animals are to be loved and cherished (cats, dogs, horses and pets) and some animals are food objects, we create a break in our internal integrity. Who decided that pigs are food and not friends? Why do we believe it? Why don’t we question this idea? Why do we kneejerk defend it? We can only tolerate this bizarre system by dividing ourselves into two. One side “loves animals” and we cuddle our companions, feed them, pet them, and mourn their deaths. The other side eats animals and defends that practice as necessary. Then there are the truly bizarre people who are happy to cuddle and care for animals and then eat them.

We have the internet, but it has become a huge marketplace and a place for posturing and fake everything. Although it could be used for real connection, it seems to be used for the opposite. Influencers posing and preening and selling junk. Angry people venting nonsense and not dealing with their real problems. Bots and trolls controlling conversations. Human ego on steroids.

Value of care farms – why did we choose care farming as our life’s work?

Connection

Cooperation

Compassion

REAL – Our world is more and more artificial. Intelligence is artificial (AI), food is artificial, relationships are artificial, etc. This is killing the human soul. Suicide is up. Health is down. Asthma, autism, auto immune diseases, ADHD, Drug abuse is up. Grades and education are down. Despair is rampant. Trust is gone.

How do we turn this around? How do we get back to REAL? To trust? To connection? To confidence? We reintroduce people to animals, plants and nature in person. Create an environment where people can build wellness of body and mind.