People with Disabilities and Autism Connect in Nature through Volunteering and Learning
Lucy Landzberg
The summer solstice just recently dawned upon us, marking the official start of the peak season! And the great news is, CBS is already creating meaningful moments in the sun!
This week, around 40 individuals with disabilities explored the rolling hills, fields, and streams of North Salem, NY, through the CBS ‘Access Nature’ Program. Expert nature guides from the Lewisboro Land Trust and North Salem Open Land Foundation weaved together a tour full of learning and fun!
Spending time in the great outdoors not only teaches invaluable lessons but benefits one’s physical and mental health. Bonnie Robbins, the director of the Access Nature Project, spoke the importance of being in nature.
“Science has proven that just being in nature, just even sitting in it, lowers anxiety, reduces depression, and negative rumination while at the same time increasing socialization, well-being, relaxation, and cognitive function.”
Individuals with disabilities also keep busy volunteering at DIG Farm, a nonprofit, volunteer-based teaching farm in North Salem, New York, which aims to foster a connection between the community and nature. As volunteers, CBS friends can choose to grow, weed, and harvest, feed the chickens and pigs, or simply take in the quiet beauty of the farm. Working alongside other volunteer groups allows CBS friends to give back to their community and achieve a sense of belonging within it.
Allison Turcan, the head farmer at DIG farm, shared that she loves seeing CBS volunteers react to the farm experience overtime. “They come in, don’t want to engage as much, and then by the end they’re into it and they’re happy and you can genuinely see a transition into a calmer and happier space.”
“It’s very fulfilling to see their growth and see how nature affects them in a positive way."
DIG Farm’s flower and veggie beds aren’t the only farm beds that are buzzing. Thanks to the help of many CBS volunteers, the harvest of CBS’s farm, Cultivating Dreams farm, is bountiful this year. In the farm’s two greenhouses and its sensory garden, individuals with disabilities rototill garden plots, rake them level, seed and plant crops such as corn and strawberries, and harvest heads of lettuce. After a long day of farmwork, they have the opportunity to bring harvested veggies and flowers home to enjoy with their families.
Olimpia Bernard, the head farmer of CBS’s very own Cultivating Dreams Farm, spoke of nature’s role amidst her life and our high-tech world.
“Nature can be very soothing for me when I hear the hum of the hummingbirds, the songs of songbirds, and to see the beauty around us. We have such busy lives but if we just stop and unplug, we can notice the wonderful world around us. I find myself looking at a single snowflake or a spider web that has morning dew on it and it makes me happy and calm.”
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