Meaford Green Care Farm
Location: Meaford is a municipality in Grey County, Ontario
On the top of Scotch Mountain in Meaford, ON, our dream for a care farm began when we read an article about Rebekah Churchyard and her hard work in starting the first care farm in Canada for people with dementia. She named it Green Care Farms and has been operating successfully now for three years. She and her team have inspired us to use her model on our farm.
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We are John and Jessica Zufferli. We bought our farm in Meaford seven years ago.
We fell in love with our farm the minute we drove up the lane. What was also immediately apparent was that we needed to find a way to reach out to people who might benefit from sharing in the beauty of this property.
The combination of losing John’s mother to dementia, learning about Rebekah’s experience, and our own retirement, crystallized our desire to share this farm by developing a green care farm for people with dementia in our community.
Left/Top: John and his mom, Joanne many years ago in her beloved backyard.
Right/Bottom: John and Joanne in her later stages of dementia.
John’s sweet mother, Joanne, lived for over a decade with dementia. It was difficult for the family and his father was the primary, and often sole, care provider. Joanne was a very avid gardener, even having her gardens featured in magazines and local tours in Sudbury, ON.
We aim to honor her memory as well as help others thrive in an outdoor environment while doing meaningful work. We have a section of our farm that we will dedicate to our Green Care Farm.
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In these "Before" pictures, it might be hard to imagine a beautiful, exciting, and relaxing Green Care Farm; however, we have big plans!
We will be working all summer to prepare the land for a vegetable garden, a lookout deck, a Sensory Garden, and lots of shaded seating, as well as a harvest table for lunches and breaks.
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We will keep you updated on our progress here on our webpage!
Welcoming area and entrance to the sensory garden
Site of the planned “lookout” to the back fields; seating and deck planned
Vegetable garden plots with either raised beds or in ground plantings
Our goal for this summer is to have at least one Open House so that the community can see what we have been working on and consider if the opportunity is suitable for their loved one.
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Right now, we feel confident that we can be ready to welcome our inaugural members in the summer of 2025. We envision a day program, once a week between the hours of 9 AM and 3 PM, during which members will participate in purposeful outdoor gardening activities. We will also provide lunch, hopefully from a local shop or caterer, and eat as a community.
Future site of the harvest table for lunch; the Bunkie for access to washroom and small kitchen
We will also be hiring qualified and experienced care providers with a goal of having each care provider assisting no more than 3 members.
If you know someone who may be interested in this line of work in the area, please reach out. As well, if you would like to learn more or contact us, please feel free to do so at MeafordGCF@gmail.com.
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We are very honored to serve this wonderful community. Hope to see you soon!
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This is a great space to write a long text about your company and your services. You can use this space to go into a little more detail about your company. Talk about your team and what services you provide. Tell your visitors the story of how you came up with the idea for your business and what makes you different from your competitors. Make your company stand out and show your visitors who you are.
