Local farm provides food and comfort for nonprofits and more: Who's behind Gaia's Way?
A farm in rural South New Berlin is helping to feed the hungry, comfort people with trauma and provide stuffed animals to foster children made from the fiber of the farm’s alpacas.
Welcome to Gaia’s Way at Hawkridge Farm, a nearly 20-acre farm located at 236 Sunset Dr. in South New Berlin, Chenango County. Chickens lay eggs that are donated to local food pantries. Horses help provide equine therapy for veterans and other people with trauma. Fiber from the farm’s alpacas is used to make stuffed bears that are donated to children in foster care. Goats, cats and dogs who live at the farm welcome, support and comfort visitors, said Nancy Wiley, project and farm manager.
Wiley knows what it’s like to struggle. At one point, she and her wife, Jennie Wiley, and their daughter were homeless and living in a campground trying to scrounge up enough money to keep their cell phone on so they could find work.
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“We went to food pantries. We asked for help,” Wiley said. “We always said that when we’re in a position that we can give back, that’s what we’re going to do.”
The couple got back on their feet and eventually established a mental health practice for several years in Cape Cod. They moved to South New Berlin two years ago.
“We sold everything,” Wiley said. “We just want to give back.”
While Wiley still commutes to Massachusetts each week to see paid clients, she spends most of her time providing equine therapy to veterans with trauma.
“I’m teaching them to learn to trust again,” she said.
Gaia’s Way will soon be able to provide fresh vegetables and fish to local food pantries all year long, Wiley said. The farm just received a $5,000 grant from the Community Foundation to build an aquaponics greenhouse. Fish in tanks will supply nutrients for plants whose roots are in water using a filtration system.
“It’s a way to utilize water with no dirt and no pesticides,” she said.
The farm is also looking for another grant to build a yoga center and an addition to the barn for equine therapy. Right now, yoga and equine therapy are done outside and often get canceled on rainy or cold days, Wiley said.
“We will be able to run programs all year long,” with the addition and yoga center, she said.
Visitors are welcome, Wiley said. Some people just want to get away from the stresses of urban life while others may have trauma.
“We have a lot of people that come here and just cry,” Wiley said. “I tell them to talk to the animals. The animals will listen.”
Petting a goat, getting hands licked by a friendly dog or just watching horses graze in the green pasture is therapeutic for many people, she said.
“Animals are unconditional,” she said.
Wiley said she hopes more visitors will come to the farm and enjoy seeing the animals and the scenery.
“It’s so beautiful here,” she said. “We want to share all that with as many people as we can, especially people with trauma.”
More about Nancy Wiley
Hometown: Dover, Pennsylvania, in York County
Home: New Berlin
Career: Trauma therapist
Family: Wife, Jennifer; one grown daughter and two grandchildren
If you go: Visitors are welcome but should call and make arrangements to visit by calling: 774-269-5915
How to Help: Gaia’s Way is looking for volunteers to help build a greenhouse and help with other projects at the farm from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. on May 20t and 21. Lunch will be provided.
To volunteer, go online to gaias-ways.org or find them on Facebook under www.facebook.com/gaiaswayfarm
To donate to the project, click here.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Gaia's Way in South New Berlin donates to food pantries, help to visitors
