A Day Out At Bittersweet Farms

Contemplating the beauty of nature during

this wonderful season of fall

On Saturday, Stephen and I headed out to Bittersweet Farms in Whitehouse, Ohio, for their fall festival. Bittersweet Farms is a residential program for adults with autism, but is a very special and unique program that provides a balanced lifestyle for its residents, who tend a small farm and have several creative workshops where the residents make income producing products, such as woven rugs and place mats, ceramic ware, bird houses, wind chimes, dried flower arrangements and canned goods, just to name a few. 

The fall festival was wonderful. There were lots of crafts and baked goods for sale, as well as pony and horse drawn cart rides, performances by local talent, carnival style games, and simply the chance to be "on the farm" on a gloriously crisp but sunny, autumn day, walking through the fields and communing with the farm critters.

We got talking to one of the mothers of one of the Bittersweet Farms residents, and she expressed profound gratitude for this alternative living and working environment for her adult daughter. Her daughter did not appear to us to be very verbal, but apparently she is, according to her mother, passionately interested in art, and has found, in creating things, a real sense of pride, purpose and peace about herself. Her mother said that prior to entering Bittersweet Farms, her daughter had been employed in a subsidized sheltered workshop where she expressed frustration and boredom with the tasks given to her. Now, when her daughter comes home to visit her, she is eager to get back to Bittersweet Farms, and eager to get back to her work. I can't think of a better testimony for a residential program for the disabled than this sort of enthusiasm. 

Everything produced at Bittersweet Farms is lovely, colorful and professionally made. The farm itself is on a rural setting that is peaceful and beautiful. I found it deeply touching that many creative and hard-working people have given birth to, and sustained, this dream of a holistic, balanced and creative lifestyle for adults with disabilities, who are so often given so little in our society. 

But the visit also caused me to reflect on my own lifestyle. Am I living a balanced life, in a sustaining community, doing work of which I am proud and which serve a sacred purpose? Putting beauty and creativity into the world is, I believe, a sacred purpose, and a source of strength and inspiration to the greater community. 

My little community of two (me and Stephen) is a tiny one, but my "greater community" continues to grow as I settle in here more and more. And I continue to find having time to create art and do my writing, cook meals from scratch, participate in spiritually caring for the sick and dying as well as being of service in other small ways to the community, to write this blog, and to create a warm and welcoming home for my "little community" is well worth the cut in pay! Stephen and I don't have lots of "things"and have to be careful with how we spend money, but we have a lifestyle that, I'm beginning to see, I wouldn't change for anything. It is slow and full and rich, and I am thankful for it. It allows me to prioritize for the important stuff--like a day out at Bittersweet Farms!--and to support the dreams, visions and creative endeavors that are life sustaining for others, especially the poor, the oppressed and those whom society so often overlooks.

I invite you to check out their website at www.bittersweetfarms.org .