Evelyn Sutton rode on horseback to school as a girl growing up near the Sweet Grass Hills in Chester, Montana.

On weekends she’d return from the boarding house to the family farm.

Now at age 80, Sutton gets to experience a little of that joy each week when she visits a small farm in Somers through the Flathead Valley Care Farm program.

The Care Farm program in Northwest Montana gives the elderly and people with disabilities a chance to get their hands dirty and work on a farm.

Even if it’s just for a day, one day a week, it’s good for Sutton, who lives at Buffalo Hill Terrace in Kalispell, to come out to the Lighthouse Christian Home’s small farm. 

“I like being out in the country,” she said. 

Maarten Fischer developed the farm program through A Plus Health Care. Fischer had worked on similar programs in the Netherlands and saw how successful they were, so he set out a few years ago to develop a similar program in northwest Montana. The program took off.

Organizations like Immanuel Lutheran Home and Buffalo Hill Terrace bring residents to one of several farms around the Flathead Valley each week. The farm is matched to the particular individual. The program is tailored to the kind of disability the person has and what their goals are. Some residents simply want to enjoy the sights and sounds of a farm, getting them out of their care facility or home care for a day. Other people are looking to develop job skills.

One resident at Immanuel Lutheran Home looks forward to the program each spring. “All winter long she asks me ‘When are we going to that farm?’” Deb Walton, activities coordinator at Immanuel Lutheran Home, said.

The Care Farm program is integrated into the Flathead County Agency on Aging. The participating farms are Terrapin Farm, Purple Frog Gardens, Round Prairie sheep farm, Centennial farm in West Valley, Abbott Valley Homestead near Columbia Falls, and Lighthouse Christian Home.

What Fischer achieved with his Care Farm program in three years in the Flathead Valley took him 15 years to develop in the Netherlands.

He had to demonstrate to nursing facilities and other organizations that risk is managed, and that there’s a health benefit to the people who work on the farms, gardening, feeding livestock or harvesting.

“It’s been super well received here,” he said. “For most of the local senior or disabled populations, there is nothing like this available. It’s been met with a lot of support.”

The program is the first of its kind in Montana, he said.

The farm program — by being administered by A Plus Health Care — has been integrated into Medicare and Medicaid, which was crucial to the program being successful, Fischer said. “Normally that would be a big challenge,” he said. “I felt it was pretty cool how this opened up.” Medicaid will pay for people to participate in the Care Farm program. “They could go to the gym or go to the farm,” Fischer said. “It’s a wellness program. Socializing on the farm is a great way to do that. You feel like you have a role to play.”

He’s adding a new farm in Bigfork, one in Columbia Falls, and potentially a sheep farm in Polson. That means more people with disabilities will have the opportunity to enjoy farm life.

It’s not free labor for the farms.

Some farms are paid to participate in the program — replacing revenue they might otherwise not earn because of the fact they are working with volunteers who may be disabled.

The program gives what is known as “respite care” for caregivers who care for people at home. By bringing their clients out to a farm for a few hours, it gives the caregivers respite and a renewed energy, Fischer said.

 “The people who are out there meet a very specific profile,” he said. “We may have someone who has never had to show up on time for anything” and needs job training, or people who are too disabled to work in a normal work setting.

“The program works well,” Fischer said, “for people with early onset of dementia who are young and fit, but are in a dementia ward with people who are not young and fit and they get frustrated.”

For people with dementia these outings may help slow down their process by giving the people activity and a sense of purpose, Fischer said.

Bert Neumann lives at home in Somers and has a caregiver. He spent an hour picking strawberries and rhubarb at Lighthouse Christian Home last week, then joined the home’s residents for lunch. The Care Farm program gives him social interaction.

“The people here call themselves Christians,” he said. “There’s one place that Christ does live, and that’s right here. There are good people here, and there’s always something to do.”

Matthew Bell, who lives in Ferndale, visited the Christian Home that day also.

Bell lives with his mother, Diana, who said there are very few opportunities for adults with disabilities to participate in. The Care Farm program allows her son social interaction and exercise. He also benefited from learning about farms.

“Matthew went from hating chicken poop to getting in there and cleaning out the pens, and gathering eggs,” Diana said.

Willis, director of the Lighthouse Christian Home, said the Tuesday arrival of Care Farm participants gets her residents excited for a day of interaction with guests. “It’s really special for our residents when they get to show off their home. They feel proud, empowered and excited,” she said.

David Reese is the editor of the Bigfork Eagle.