Wheelchair Accessibility at Environmentally Sustainable Tara Firma Farms

Recently we had the chance to visit a local, organic, and sustainable farm and want to share the amazing experience we had there learning about farm practices and how easy it can be to eat local and healthy.

My Diet as a Quadriplegic

Being confined to a wheelchair as a C5/C6 quadriplegic and not able to exercise my body like a non-disabled person can, I find it very important to take care of my body in other ways to stay healthy. The best alternative I can think of is to nurture my body with healthy foods. When I say healthy foods, I mean eating lots of fruits and vegetables, preferably all organic. Eating that way has really made a tremendous difference in my overall health and my energy levels. See my earlier articles about the Benefits of a Healthy Diet for a Quadriplegic and Juice Feasting. I even read an article a little while ago claiming that a healthy diet is more of a contributing factor to longevity than regular exercise. I hope that is kind of true as I am trying my best to stick with it. So far, so good, because I hardly ever get sick.

The Tara Firma Farms Story

I am always eager to learn more about organic farming practices. So, when Aaron told my wife and me that a new sustainable, organic farm – Tara Firma Farms – had opened in our area and was doing tours on Sundays, we didn’t hesitate to go check it out. My expectations for getting around on the farm in a power wheelchair were very low, especially after the huge amounts of rain we have had over the past two months. But it ended up being a very pleasant and educational experience.

Tara Firma Farms is located in the rolling hills of the San Francisco North Bay and the setting of the farm couldn’t look any more green and beautiful on our sunny visit after months of rain. First of all, the owners Tara and Craig Smith had an amazing story to tell. After they learned more and more about the impact of traditional food production on both the health of our bodies and our planet, they decided to make their own environmentally friendly initiative by becoming organic food farmers. They sold their home on the Bay, Tara quit her successful career, and they purchased 240 acres of land to start a sustainable and organic farm.

Tara conducted a wonderful and enlightening informative tour. I was struck about how passionate she is in trying to make her own impact on healing our earth. By practicing biointensive farming, they are able to get greater yields per square foot from their produce gardens. By moving their cattle to new patches of grass every day, the grass isn’t grazed down too far, and is able to stay healthy and nutritious. And by moving their hens onto the land recently vacated by the cattle, their hens are able to eat bugs and grubs which give their eggs thick yellow yolks.

Accessibility on the Farm

The dirt roads through the pastures and the vegetable gardens were quite muddy after all the recent rain and in some places a little hilly, but nothing I wasn’t able to manage in my power wheelchair. I was actually having some fun and felt a little bit like a kid again maneuvering through the mud and puddles. Tara was extremely accommodating to my situation. She guided me through the most accessible route and even put some wooden boards down in a spot that was very muddy. I was able to stay with the rest of the group during the entire tour and didn’t miss out on anything. And as soon as the mud dries up, it will even be easier to get around in a wheelchair.

The only place I wasn’t able to access on the tour was the shop where produce and meat was sold. There was a small step to the entrance and Tara felt really bad they hadn’t put up a ramp yet. I can fully understand they had overlooked that given everything else they had to deal with during the past six months getting the farm operational and I’m sure they will fix that soon.

A Weekly Box of Local Organic Vegetables

Even though I am a vegetarian, it was heartwarming to see the chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows being raised with a lot of respect. I was actually tempted for a while to add a little bit of their meat back into my diet knowing that the meat is free of chemicals and that the animals have had a good life.

I hope more people will follow in Tara’s and Craig’s footsteps so that food production is gradually put back in the hands of small, local, independent farmers which allows us to regain trust in the foods we put in our bodies. In the meantime we are making our contribution by having a box of organic vegetables from Tara Firma Farms delivered weekly at a pickup place in our neighborhood.