Sadie Grove Nurture Farm

Sadie Grove Farm is an animal sanctuary farm that also provides nurturing day camps, horseback riding lessons, and other therapeutically inclined programs for children. The people who run the farm provide nurturing care for the animals, who assist in providing nurturing and healing experiences for the children who visit. In turn, the children who visit nurture the animals in return for their contributions, thus completing the circle. Sadie Grove Farm is Queer owned and woman-run.

We work to provide the best care for all of the animals on our farm, 85% of whom have been rescued or rehomed here. All of our animals have a permanent home with us and many are elderly or could not be homed elsewhere due to behavioral issues or ongoing veterinary needs. The farm is home to horses, miniature horses, goats, sheep, dogs, cats, miniature pigs, and chickens. Several animals in our care have been or are in the process of being rehabilitated. This includes proper feeding and veterinary care, of course, but many times can include emotional and behavioral rehabilitation as well. We have been able to use our understanding of animal behavior to create a safe environment for these animals. This comes from being intentional, diligent, and thoughtful, consulting with specialists when needed, and not taking on more than we can realistically handle.

We offer programs for children most often in the form of camps that are unlike any others. Our camps are part horse, part farm, part nature, and part maker camp. They are Waldorf-inspired and designed and led by a child clinical psychologist. 

At Sadie Grove Farm camps, children take chances and flourish and thrive through a mix of child directed free-range farm play and directed and therapeutic activities. We bear witness to each child as they experience change, growth, confidence, and joy as they discover and strengthen their identities and the other children affirmingly hold that space for them.

In addition to plenty of open space, free-range play and the magic of nature, our campers can experience the gifts that an emotional connection to our creature companions, equine or otherwise, can offer. These moments happen organically – as children are naturally often drawn to quiet, gentle moments with animals – or they happen through directed animal-assisted therapeutic activities.

Animal-assisted therapy, in the way we use it directively at Sadie Grove Farm is used most often with horses and on the ground. In its simplest form, campers learn to walk horses on a line, understanding that keeping the horse at the appropriate distance as we walk is symbolic to all relationships. Our campers learn basic ground work, which involves moving a horse freely around the outside of a round pen while the camper stays in the middle. This is done only through body movements and energetic stance of the camper. Through this single activity, an individual learns valuable lessons about themselves, boundaries, assertiveness, empowerment, and connection. Equine assisted therapy taps into a horse’s natural relationship instincts to draw on these lessons in ways that we as humans find much safer, more comforting, and powerful than with other humans. It’s life changing!

Campers also get an opportunity to create something meaningful, beautiful, and natural to take home during their time at Sadie Grove Farm camp. Often times this will involve felting something from sheep’s wool, through either wet or needle felting. At SGF we love when we can see something from its conception to finish through the week, and lately we have even been processing wool directly from the sheep to the take home item. This means campers had the opportunity to see the wool sheared, and helped skirt, clean, dry, card, spin, weave, and felt. Past camp art projects have included Eco-dyeing, goat milk soap, wrapped horseshoes, jewelry, lanterns, lavender sachets, ice dyeing, and making paint and painting materials from items discovered all around the farm. We consider making with one’s hands and working with natural materials to be therapeutic and grounding activities in and of themselves and important piece of our camp’s structure.

Lastly, through chores and farm work, children learn the value of hard work and kindness and can give back to the animals who give us so much. Campers clean pastures and other animal enclosures, scrub water buckets, scoop grain and feed hay, collect eggs, and clean tack. We pour ourselves into cultivating an environment of nurturing for both the animals and the children who come to Sadie Grove, and we see it come full circle as the children learn to care for one another and the animals.