Photo credit: Paige Green Photography

Spring is nature's way of saying "Let's Party!"

 

This spring, we celebrated the grand opening of Mustang Court Commons, our farm's achievements, and the neurodiverse community that rally around our little farm.

In this newsletter, we are spotlighting our youngest member, Saul Herner-Brown. Saul is a very sweet, funny, super smart, 18-year-old young man with a sensitive soul, who was born and raised in the Bay Area. Saul loves being in nature, walking on the beach at home in Alameda, reading books, listening to music, and writing. He is very close to his family: moms Laurie and Mary Beth, twin sister Thea, and big brother Troy. He's also a non-speaking autistic who best communicates by spelling.

Saul's parents, being older, worried about where Saul would live if something were to happen to them, and didn't want family and friends burdened with making future decisions. The instant they saw the beautiful acreage of the farm property they knew it would be a wonderful fit for their nature-loving son. 

Saul was only 14 when his "forever room" was purchased at Mustang Court Commons, and understandably he initially had a lot of anxiety about the thought of someday living without his parents. "I don't know if my life would go on if I were not with my mom." was an early comment Saul made. Over time, with frequent visits to the farm with his family to work on projects, gather, and relax in nature, Saul has developed a deep love for the land and his growing farm community, and now looks forward to one day moving in when he's ready, most likely after age 22.

Saul was an advanced speaker as a toddler until a severe, sudden regression at age 3 years, 2 months, resulted in a loss of speech and body control, and a diagnosis of autism. Although he still struggles mightily with impulse and motor control (and currently only watches as others do farm chores!) Saul is now able to express his thoughts through spelling and is a very gifted writer. Saul's communication breakthrough happened 3.5 years ago during RPM (Rapid Prompting Method) lessons with Lenae Crandall. He now best communicates via a bluetooth keyboard thanks to the past year and a half of intensive work with Lindsey Goodrich.

Finding his voice through spelling has been absolutely life changing for Saul, and finding his tribe in our growing speller community has positively lit his hopes for his future! 

Saul is now pursuing an age-appropriate education and is excited about joining future activities with his speller friends! Saul has written about the farm, "Momentously grateful for this place... The thought of moving here brings more joy than worry for me; going to brighten like a night sky full of stars! Farm life tunnels connect throughout our labyrinth of minds and souls... Thoughts about the new year fill me with great anticipation and joy. The full life is rich in friendship... I am most grateful for the ability to communicate for that reason."

Mustang Acres members' drum circle with siblings    

A keen observer of nature, Saul wrote the following poem this past winter during a gathering at the farm:

Birds Nesting on Paper Boughs

 

Eager are the birds to gather

Better to find comfort before the frost

Build the nest with careful touch

Flutter the chill from downy wings

Nestle now as night has fallen.

Begin again with warm morning light.

- Saul Herner-Brown

Community members and speller friends headed to prom 

Mustang Acres and Mustang Court Commons (MCC) held a joint celebration on March 30th to commemorate the grand opening of MCC, which offers life long permanent housing for neurodiverse individuals. Many in our community have autism and are non-speakers or unreliable speakers, and use spelling to communicate. Visitors from all over the Bay Area came by to celebrate with us. 

Kevin McDonnell, Mayor of the City of Petaluma, did the honors of cutting the ceremonial ribbon.  Our farm's annual sheep shearing was also held that day, where the sheep were feeling just as celebratory about having their winter coats shorn off to welcome the warmer spring weather. For more information about MCC, please contact Susan@living-unlimited.org .

Our farm was the proud recipient of the Healthy Soils Program block grant by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), which was dispersed by Fibershed. We were awarded slightly over $30,000 to implement climate-smart agricultural practices to improve the health of our soil. The goals of our project include  capturing carbon in soils

and vegetation through planting hedgerows, which increases our land's capacity for carbon sequestration from the atmosphere, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Volunteers of all ages and abilities, some with green thumbs, others with brown thumbs, kicked off the grant project with our first planting day.

This spring, we were thrilled to host volunteer work days for adults in a transition program, and elementary school students doing fieldwork. The groups' outings to the farm provided the students with experiential learning opportunities that they would otherwise not receive in a typical classroom setting. They did projects on the farm that were appropriate for their age group, while also having loads of fun being out in nature.

Are you a crafter or are you looking for gifts for that loved one who seems to be knitting all the time? We have our Mustang Acres farm yarn for sale online and in store, at Avenue Yarns in Albany, CA. Our yarn is 100% nonGMO wool from our very own sheep, and is certified Climate Beneficial by Fibershed . It's soft and delectable! We offer natural cream Finn and Romney fiber, a medium

brown blend of Corriedale fiber, natural grey Romney fiber, and a dark blend of Shetland/Finn fiber. All proceeds from the sale of our yarn go towards our farm. It's yarn for a good cause!

We are still fundraising for a barn! The barn will provide a gathering space to host educational and social-recreational programs, and spelling lessons for those who communicate best through spelling. We envision the farm to be a place where people from across the neurodiverse spectrum belong, thrive and form lifelong friendships. Please help us reach our goal of building a barn. No gift is too small and any amount helps!