Songyard Farms

Reflecting on Gratitude

Songyard Farms has been a daydream for over 10 years. The idea grew like spring flowers…laying dormant for months at a time then popping up and adding a splash of color when least expected. Over the last 2 years it seems to have spread, divided, and stayed in bloom season after season. I am finally ready to put the idea into action, and hope you enjoy reading about the journey.

First, how about a little backstory on the daydream itself?

I have been working in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), specializing in autism and related diagnoses, for over 20 years. I LOVE what I do. I love meeting new people, getting to know children of all ages, finding ways to bring out the joy in their learning process, and helping teachers connect with students that can be difficult to reach. I find the breakthrough moments when a child learns to communicate, to ask questions, to ride their bike, to protest and to make friends all incredibly rewarding. I have watched countless children grow into their teens and young adult lives and then hit a few stumbling blocks with the “what next?” question. It can be difficult for young, nuerodiverse adults with to find meaningful and rewarding work in places that embrace their differences.

As my career in ABA grew, so did my own children and my passion for sustainability. I make nearly every decision throughout my day with an underlying thought about the impact my decision has on the environment. I think about this when shopping, cooking, traveling, choosing new beauty products, going out to dinner, you name it! I want the decisions I make in my life to be a part of the solution of climate change as much as possible. And I accept that it is not always possible. My trash cans get filled (and so does my gas tank) more quickly than I’d like. I am sometimes wasteful. I do turn on my air conditioning on hot and humid days and don’t always have time to hang my clothes out to dry. I love shopping. But I try to do my part and reduce my burden on the world around me. I model my choices and encourage my children to be conscientious consumers and decision makers too. And (wait for it…here is where the farming starts to comes in) I encourage my children to spend as much of their days outside as possible. My children are not so little anymore. They love their video games and movies and just their bedrooms in general. Over the years as they grew they heard different messages such as “if the sun is shining the screens are off” and “it’s always a good day to play outside,” and my personal favorite “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes.”

My gardens began as my hobby to give me something to do outside while they played. I grew flowers and a few veggies and herbs on our tiny 10th acre lot in Shaker Heights. We craved a little more space and moved to 1.5 acres outside of Chagrin Falls. Here, I really began to learn more about the little corner of the earth I lived in. I read books about organic farming, sustainable living, no till methods for my garden, composting, and even took a year’s worth of courses in permaculture. We added chickens and goats and rabbits to our lives to close the loop on our gardening and yard management practices (and because they really make the best pets!) The chickens scratch at and eat the weeds I pull and our fruit and veggie scraps and turn them in to wonderful compost for the food I grow. The goats prune the wooded areas on our property and give us more manure with different acidity levels than the chickens’. They also make me laugh every day and give the best snuggles! The rabbits are incredible at eating all the grasses and weeds in a new garden area (except creeping Charlie-I’m convinced it’s indestructible).

As I gardened more I integrated and focused on native plants, and happily discovered how many of them have culinary and medicinal purposes. I also found that I loved growing perennial herbs for their flavor, ease of growing and beauty.

It didn’t take long before I was craving more space again. This time, I wanted a space I could share. Farming takes planning, cataloguing, designing, hands in the dirt efforts for planting, harvesting and weeding. It takes marketing work, creativity and bookkeeping. This is where the daydream really blooms.

The passion I feel for helping young adults with neurodiverse needs and the passion I feel for sustainable practices and time outdoors are pretty close to equal. The joy I feel in growing and creating beautiful spaces for pollinators and people alike is something I want to share. The noise in my yard..I mean the songs…of my children, my chickens, my goats and all the birds and bees that benefit from what we grow is the soundtrack I want playing when friends and neighbors come to visit.

And so Songyard Farms is growing. We are starting small, but we are dreaming big. We are dreaming of a space to integrate native plants with community favorites so the plants, the pollinators, the animals and the people can all benefit from the same space. We dream of making decisions that have a positive impact on climate change. We dream of creating vocational opportunities for neurodiverse individuals. Most importantly, we are working hard at making this dream come true. I hope you follow us on the journey!