1. TRAINING COURSE SOCIAL FARMING
Call: IT02-KA KA2 - Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices-Strategic Partnerships for adult education
TRAINING COURSE
SOCIAL FARMING
CASE STUDY n° HEATH’S FARM 1

2. Contact: Dorothy Heath Address: Northern Ireland
MODULE Social Farming
CASE STUDY N. 1
HEATH’S FARM
Contact: Dorothy Heath
Address: Northern Ireland

3. HISTORY AND FARM DESCRIPTION
Set in the beautiful Co.Down countryside, with fantastic views of the Mourne Mountains. Conservation area boundaries most of my farm.
Walking groups use area and the ‘green lanes’ network and ‘Bronte Centre’ are close to farm. 3

4. DATA & FIGURES OVERVIEW
TYPE OF FARM Suckler cows, Shorthorn beef and
Charolais pedigrees, ponies, dogs, chickens
Conservation area boundaries most of the farm. 4

5. Address: Banbridge, Co Down, Northern Ireland
HOLDING DATA
Name: Dorothy Heath
Address: Banbridge, Co Down, Northern Ireland
Web:
Type of enterprise: Suckler cows, beef, and connamaraxArab ponies
Legal representative: Dorothy Heath
Year farm commenced: 2004
Year of commencement social farming: 2012
Size of farm: 40 acres 5

6. MULTIFUNCTIONAL EXPERIENCE:
DIVERSIFICATION
Pilot farmer for Social Farming Across Borders (SoFAB) from the beginning of project 2012.
The project was an EU INTERREG IVA Funded project which operated in the Border counties of Ireland and all of Northern Ireland.
The Pilot Project included 10 from Republic of Ireland and 10 from throughout Northern Ireland. 6

7. AFTER DIVERSIFICATION
OUTCOME: SITUATION OF THE HOLDING
AFTER DIVERSIFICATION
Heath farm continued as a social farm after the Social Farming across Border project ended.
I have provided Social Farming on my farm one day per week for over three years for three young persons from Southern Trust area. 7

8. Just being on the farm is therapeutic, as all life happens here.
OBSERVATIONS
Just being on the farm is therapeutic, as all life happens here.
Being exposed to the changing seasons, keeps me in touch with reality and the pattern of nature. 8

9. PROFILE OF FARMER-PROMOTER
FULL NAME: Dorothy Heath
AGE: 50+
GENDER: Female
EDUCATION: Professional Occupational Therapist
YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 15 9

10. QUERIES OR CONSIDERATIONS
I am an occupational therapist, who has worked with people who have mental health issues, learning difficulties and physical disabilities.
One of my strengths would be the ability to break down a task to help the participants to undertake the activity step by step in order that they achieve success which is very important for their self esteem. 10

11. INNOVATIVE ACTIVITIES
Interacting with ponies 11

12. INNOVATIVE ACTIVITIES
Feeding all animals on the farm
Cleaning out stables, cattle pens
Fixing fencing
Planting trees, hedging, flowers 12

13. KEY PROCESS DESCRIPTION
ON SOCIAL FARMING
Process Description
Competence Description
Feeding animals
Knowledge:
Understanding the importance of eating properly for the animal and for the person to have good health.
Skills:
How to prepare food for the animals, how to plan when to feed them at the correct time, how to tidy up and keep food safe. Animals need interaction and working with animals and understanding their likes and dislikes helps them understand their own likes and dislikes. Animals give a structure and routine to the day.
Attitudes:
To accept the mood of the animal that it may not always be easy to fed it or it may not want to eat the food and relate this to themselves and other people. To be able to help and cooperate with the farmer to feed the animals. to develop flexibility to cope with unexpected situations.
Care for sheep including herding, lambing and animal health activities
Understanding the importance of keeping the animals clean and checking their health to treat any cuts and wounds to avoid infections.
How to take care of animals to wash and keep them clean and help to treat them with medications. It helps people with learning difficulties to take responsibility and learn about their own needs and self worth
To relate positively to health professionals and accept that they may need to take medications to maintain their own health. 13

14. KEY PROCESS DESCRIPTION
ON SUSTAINABILITY
Process Description
Competence Description
Dry stone walling, fencing and woodwork projects
Knowledge:
Why it is important for the farmer to maintain walls and fences around the farm to keep the animals safe within the farm boundary and to protect people outside the farm so they are safe from the animals.
Skills:
Developing practical skills of how to build walls using stone, how to fix fences using wood and tools such as nails and hammers.
Attitudes:
To consider different needs. The needs of the animals to be safe inside and the needs of the public to be safe from animals. The responsibility to take care of people and animals.
Vegetable, fruit and flower growing
To know how food is grown and to understand that it takes time to plant the food and take care of it so that it will grow into healthy food.
How to use their hands and tools to weed, dig and prune plants so that it will grow.
To gain patience to know that sometimes things take a long time before you see results.
Learning about wildlife
Knowledge: To know the birds, the trees and the wildflowers that grow around the farm. Skills: To learn their names and recognise them and how to protect wildlife. Attitudes: How to take reponsibility for taking care of something apart from themselves.. 14

15. RECOMMENDED TRAINING
Training around the medical condition of the person using the social farm such as learning in disability, autism, disabilities so you understand their needs and how o support them. 15

16. FARMER’S KEYWORDS
Support
Empathy
Humour
Self-Esteem
Step by step 16