“One thing that helped me was my animals.”

Jenny Burr
Spur Ottawa correspondent

Experiencing farm life can make a huge impact on families and individuals. Whether it is gardening or caring for animals, farm life can provide a healing environment that helps rebuild confidence—especially for bullied and at-risk youth. That’s the principle that established McWatt Family Farms.

“The farm operates on social mindedness, which means being aware of the community around the farm and offering programs that include the community,” Stephanie McWatt explains. “I envision it like the farms from the 1930s–1940s, where a community worked together on a farm.”

In addition to raising grass-fed sheep and pigs, the McWatt farm offers programs and camps for children and youth to develop life skills while learning about life on a farm. Many of the programs specifically target at-risk youth, helping them gain leadership skills and self-confidence. McWatt, who has 23 years of experience working with youth as a social worker, knows firsthand the impact animals can play in the life of an at-risk youth.

“I grew up in a single-mom family and endured abuse as a child,” she shares. “One of the things that helped me keep a grip of reality were my animals. We had dogs and cats and they became my ‘real family’.”

Photo by Stephanie McWatt.

In grade school a social worker connected McWatt with a local handicapped riding school. Seeing how much she loved the horses, he suggested she might benefit from volunteering at the farm. In high school she volunteered for a summer camp and says kids would talk to her about their own struggles, which were often similar to what she went through.

“I think God started to point me in this direction,” she says.

Later, at university, three different professors encouraged her to change her degree to social work due to her compassionate heart and her avid interest in youth. That is exactly what she did.

Photo by Stephanie McWatt.

Today, people come to the farm for different reasons. Some come to learn how to take care of the animals. Others want to learn to garden. McWatt says one family didn’t have the space for a garden so they planted a garden on the farm to grow their own food. This year, they wanted to grow enough food to sell at the market.

McWatt has been managing much of the workload herself and hopes to find board members, investors, and volunteers so the farm could become an official non-profit organization. In the meantime, the fruit is evident in the responses of parents, like Misty.

“My daughter has been a part of Stephanie’s program for almost two years and Stephanie has been an absolute answer to prayer,” Misty shares. “My daughter has multiple diagnoses, had been severely bullied, and had communication issues. When she started at the farm, she barely spoke outside of the home and had very little self-confidence.

“Today, this same girl has been making friends, talks more and participates in classroom discussions. She has grown in so many ways. Without the program, and Stephanie’s heart for kids, I do not want to think about where our family might be right now.”

You can learn more at the McWatt Family Farms website.