Growing Connections: How Care Farms Support People with Dementia

An elderly person plants bushes; others feed farm animals and tend gardens. Laughter is shared over tea. People take walks together in the country, interact with farm animals, and paint a work bench. At first glance, it’s simply people in the United Kingdom enjoying the countryside and doing typical farm chores.

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, “Four days a week, Kees Oranje’s 81-year-old mother Paula gets up and goes off to work on a farm in the neighboring village of Brielle, just west of Rotterdam.”

“Depending on the day, Paula might feed the chickens, assist with chores, or help prepare hot lunches,” writes Elizabeth Hewitt in the article “In Holland People With Dementia Can Work on a Farm” on the Reasons to be Cheerful website.

Taking a closer look reveals an intentional collaboration addressing the desire to reduce reliance on institutions for dementia care, alongside the need for farming to become more multifunctional to offset increased costs and declining food prices. It was the late 1990s, and the people of the Netherlands were finding ways to provide individuals with disabilities an avenue for meaningful participation in society.

Fast-forward to today, and care farming is an established part of society in the Netherlands with organized initiatives in the U.K. as well. Care farms, also called social farms, combine agricultural work with therapeutic or social services, offering mental health support, rehabilitation, and/or community-building activities through farming.

They exist in the U.S. as well but are not supported by government funding and are not as widely available. They usually focus on a specific population such as those recovering from addiction, veterans, or people with dementia, including Alzheimer’s Disease. I am covering this unique form of community because September is World Alzheimer’s Month, raising awareness about all forms of dementia.

This is society creating community at its best.

The brief YouTube post Social Farms & Gardens - Care farming for dementia and older people (5:40 mins) spotlights the community benefits of care farms in the U.K, making the point that connecting with nature and others is beneficial to mental health. Research supports these assertions.

“Studies in Norway and the Netherlands found that people with dementia at care farms tended to move more and participate in higher-intensity activities than those in traditional care, which can help with mobility in daily life and have a positive impact on cognition. Dementia is often linked to social isolation, and care farms were found to boost social involvement, especially among those who wouldn’t opt for traditional assistance options. Spending time outdoors in nature, often part of a day on a care farm, can also improve well-being among people with dementia. Farms are not only good for individuals, their families also benefit: studies find caregivers experience less guilt when their loved ones are supported by services they consider to be nurturing and fulfilling,” writes Hewitt.

My notes for this post include large sections of Hewitt’s well-researched article. I can’t improve on her well-presented depiction of care farms, so instead I’ll provide you with some of the lovely quotes she includes and implore you to invest 6 minutes to read her entire 2022 article.

Hewitt makes the point that “Common to many people with dementia is a desire to not only participate in society, but contribute to it.” Care farms are helping to do that, increasing social value for their communities.

You likely don’t have a care farm in your community if you are outside of the U.K. or Netherlands, but they are growing in popularity in the U.S. You can, however, help those with dementia connect with nature and others. See the Golden Connection Challenge below for some suggestions.