Those who join in at Oak Tree Fields become ‘co-farmers’
Abbi McNichol, centre, with chairman of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Councillor Liam Dealtry, and Clare Frisby from BBC Look North(Image: East Riding of Yorkshire Council)
Abbi McNichol quit her full-time job as a special needs teacher to launch her dream project. Now, Oak Tree Fields, at Asselby, near Goole, is a realisation of those goals that started pre-Covid.
Oak Tree Fields is a community farm dedicated to providing farm and nature-based day activities for adults with support needs, including those with learning disabilities, autism, mental health needs, memory impairments and acquired brain injuries. Daily sessions there include a rich variety of outdoor, purposeful activities in animal husbandry, horticulture and seasonal tasks that offer people a meaningful and active lifestyle.
Abbi was recently honoured at the East Riding Council Chairman’s Awards, winning the Community Award, Individual Category. The citation said: “Abbi has created a small, self-funded community farm providing people with learning disabilities and autism the chance to experience meaningful farm life as co-farmers, caring for animals and growing produce whilst building confidence, skills and independence.”
Abbi said she was “quite flabbergasted” to win the award, adding: “This was a brand new enterprise for me. We have no farming background; we moved here and changed our lives from a normal functioning family to running a smallholding.”
Oak Tree Fields took around 18 months to set up – “there was just one fence that went around a section of our land” – and since April, the venture has been “open and raring to go”. Abbi said: “We try to be and aim to be a community within a community; you see all sorts of people here. We are part of your life but not your whole life.”
Co-farmers come to the farm for full day sessions or for shorter periods to suit an individual’s needs. There are seasonal activities and goal-directed learning opportunities, all while having fun.
The farm is building, “slowly but surely”, and Abbi is just turning her endeavours to training the animals – “sheep, goats and we’re also attempting pigs” – to go on walks. Oak Tree Fields is also concerned with “farm to fork” based activities so people can find out what is growing and how to cook it – and enjoy it.
“We’re also aiming to sell what produce gets left over, with all the money coming back into the farm,” Abbi said. “We’re currently trying to grow some different things such as mangelwurzels and Dragon’s Egg cucumbers.”
The aim at Oak Tree Fields is to support people into employment, through work placements or on the farm itself. For more information, visit oaktreefields.co.uk
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