Ep. 26: Empowering the Disabled Through Farming, Joe Twiner Peachtree Farm

When I first toured Peachtree Farm, it was for a completely different reason than having them on my podcast. 15 minutes into the tour, things changed! This farm is about so much more than sustainable farming! They only hire disabled teens and young adults and watching them worked made it clear why this farm needs to be an episode on Interesting Humans Podcast. Joe and his father are unique individuals and have blessed so many families over the years by employing their disabled children. Otherwise, 80% of all disabled people in America are unemployed and struggle getting hired. And that is what Joe and his father have solved. They even do tomato tailgate sales once every quarter at the farm! If you're ever in the area (Norcross, GA) do yourself the favor of stopping by for a tour. You will be so glad you did!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I studied education, uh, went onto grad school, studied human rights, focused on disability. You know, when you have someone in your family who with disabilities, it really defines your life as as much as it does theirs because you you see and and we're willing to give everything for them. Yeah. Uh we started talking about the idea of the farm in 2017. I was in college. Disability employment is incredibly under-resourced, and people with disabilities are everywhere. But when they are in an environment that's really truly supportive, that's when they can really just open up.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Open open up and show kind of the beauty of life. You are listening to the Jeff OPEC Show, Conversations with Interesting Humans.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

All right, folks, welcome back to another episode here. Thanks for joining us. I have an interesting person here with a great story in the studio. His name's Joe Twiner. Um, him and his father started a local farm. And this is so much more than just farming, sustainable farming. Uh, I got the great privilege of going to visit Peachtree Farm, and I knew a couple minutes in that that this was going to be a show. There, this is way, way more than just a farm. Folks, they uh engage only people with disability. And when I saw that and I watched things with my own eyes, I said, I can't wait to help share this story. They're such a great story. So, what you're doing for uh for humanity, for those with disability, I'm personally grateful for that. And I really appreciate you taking the time out to come in and tell us about this incredible story that we're about to unfold here in the studio. So thanks for being here, Joe.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yeah, we're really excited. We're good.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Uh it was great to have you out and see the space. And uh, we're just so happy to be here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Like I said, there's no there's no chance I'm doing this show without being there, watching you guys in action, watching these farmers come up and ask you questions and just seeing the level of compassion. And there was just so much to feel there that day. So I wanna I want to start off asking you, Joe. So you're 28, right? Do you rec do you recall the first memory of when you when your sister got her diagnosis, whatever age?

SPEAKER_02 2:22

I don't remember the first memory of when she got her diagnosis. I don't think that was something we were really, really talking about. I remember the first, the first kind of memory of disability that I have, yeah, the social, the social stigma around diagnosis, disability, was I was probably in fourth or fifth grade, and my sister's younger than me. And so um, someone said, Joe, what what's wrong with your sister? And uh just a very direct question, something that, you know, something someone might ask about any of our farmers still today, you know, we haven't made that much social progress.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

And I said, Nothing. Nothing's wrong. What do you mean there's nothing wrong with my sister? Sure. But there's something different. And so I went home, I talked to my parents, and they're like, There's something different. She has extra challenges, but she needs all she needs is extra love, extra time, yeah, extra support.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

And it was, it was that really that first moment of a friend saying, What's wrong with your sister? for me to go, hold on, nothing's wrong.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Right.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Everything else around the world that says she is wrong is what's wrong.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Wow. And what what exactly was the diagnosis?

SPEAKER_02 3:24

My sister uh was primarily diagnosed with verbal apraxia, okay, which is a disconnect between uh the brain and mouth, essentially, where there's thoughts that aren't being communicated from one place to the other. Yeah. But she has a more complex diagnosis. Uh on her kind of official forms, it just lists mild to moderate intellectual disability. Um as diagnoses are, what we see with my sister is that's really what it is. It's this broader kind of my sister is different. Yeah. It doesn't fit into the the general social, social norms. And so that's what the disability is.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

So it so at a point there, something happened, right? Your your father owns this successful engineering business. You're in college, probably just getting ready to come out. You could have gone in the corporate world, he sold his company and could have done anything on earth. How did this idea come up? That's what I'm blown away with.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

You know, I uh I'm lucky I studied education. Yeah. Um, in so many ways, I feel kind of tailor-made for what I do today. I studied education, uh, went onto grad school, studied human rights, folks on disability. And when you have someone in your family who with disabilities, it really defines your life as as much as it does theirs because you you see and are willing to give everything for them. Yeah. And so uh we started talking about the idea of the farm in 2017. I was in college, um, and we threw out a bunch of different ideas. Uh you know, we talked about a t-shirt company, we talked about um the farm, and we wanted something that could create a lot of jobs. Disability employment is incredibly under-resourced, particularly in Georgia, but across the whole country, about 70% of adults with disabilities are are not employed. So 70%. You know, many don't seek employment, so it's really hard to find numbers. Most of the research is from before COVID. Um, and so did not get better in COVID. I know that.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Oh my, so it's worse than seven, probably worse than seven. Across the country. Across the country. Are unemployed. Are not employed. Not employed. Um but they're employable.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

They're employable. Many have great skills, great talents, great abilities that just need the right fit for them. And so we want something that could create a lot of jobs, something that could be made accessible. Farming is something that with the right tools, with the right supports, is very accessible.

SPEAKER_03 5:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

And something that could eventually lead to housing. Our vision has always been to provide a live, work, thrive community for someone with disability.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

And I think that's where you guys are at right now. It is, yes. Right is you have those those markers that are where the what what's going there? You explained it like.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Yes. So we on site now we have our whole operating production farm. We have our greenhouse, tomatoes year-round, nursery. And then everything to the to the side of that, we have reserved for disability housing. So we're hoping to get started next year on building three independent living homes. Some of the first they'll live there. They'll live there on site. That's so cool. Um, you know, disability housing is even is if 70% is a shocking number for employment, disability housing is even worse. We Oh, it's gonna be terrible. Of the 60 farmers that we work with every month, 100% live with their families.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

100%. So there's no kind of like halfway, I don't know if that's the right word, but halfway house or any anything like that. They're no home to work to home.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Home to work to home. Um Georgia's pretty far behind. Georgia was one of the last states to uh to get folks out of institutions, um, which is which were a terrible, terrible history there.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

But there wasn't another plan for when folks came out. And so disability housing in Georgia has not been constructed in a meaningful way over the last 15 years.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

What was that first call like with your dad? This whole thing had to originate with something like a phone call or an email or whatever, going, hey, what do you think about this idea?

SPEAKER_03 7:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

You know, what was that?

SPEAKER_02 7:21

You know, I think my dad is so has been such a successful businessman, I think, because he he really encourages that intrinsic motivation in people. Uh he started by just saying, Hey, I'm we're thinking about this. Can you just make a logo for it? Is that what I want? Yeah, it was just hey, we're we're thinking about this. Don't worry about this one. I just need a logo. Yeah. And that kind of hooked me in. I was like, well, what else is going on? What else is going on here? You were in school? Yes. I was in college. I was student teaching.

SPEAKER_03 7:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

And he called me and said, Hey, you can do graphic stuff. I was like, kinda.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Uh figure it out. Figure it out. YouTube. You know, I'm 20, 22 at the time, easy enough. Uh, just make a logo. Um, add that on, add that, you know, and then uh four years later, we really got started with the farm when I was uh about 25. So three, four years later, it was hey, we're looking for someone. Could you just write a job description for an executive director for me? I was like, Yeah, sure, I'm happy to help with that. Wow. Yeah, wrote out a job description for an executive director. Um, and that that year I was I was working at a nonprofit in Boston at the time that focused on workplace, workplace justice and everything like that. So again, I feel like I, you know, work, disability, education really is my core background. And so um, I was at a point in that in that organization where they were looking to move me up into to further management. And I kind of had the opportunity, and they they'd been around for 60, 70, five years, so they're kind of a legacy organization. Yeah. Uh, but looking for new change and everything. And so it was really at a point where when I had sat me and I was like, hey, all right, here's your description that you wrote. I know you have this kind of career you're working on. Would you consider this? Wow. And uh it was like the best moment because I was like, Yes, this is what I have been dreaming of.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Sure. Did that would you say that all started because of your the diagnosis with your sister? Is that where your heart for all this came from? So you don't think you'd be here without that?

SPEAKER_02 9:21

100%. You know, when you have someone with disabilities in your family, it it's something that you can never not see.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

You know, everywhere you go, accessibility, inclusion is always something that you see. When you, you know, the first time I didn't live with someone with disabilities was when I went to college. And I was like, well, oh yeah. That's you know, that's the first time I never lived with someone with disabilities. Sure. But I found all of my closest friends, pretty much my entire life, has have had siblings or cousins or someone in their family or close to that has disabilities. It's been something that has really unified across my my life. It's been people around this mission.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

What was what was it like? What was it like? What was it like growing up?

SPEAKER_02 10:05

It was wonderful. My sister, uh, she's four years younger than me, and uh she has a great sense of humor. Oh she, you know, folks with disabilities, just like everyone have all have different personalities, and she has a wonderful sense of humor and she loves pranks. Like that's her thing. She loves pranks, jump scares, and tell me one.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

What's one she did uh one of your favorites?

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Well, the most recent one we've been doing is uh if I'm on the phone with I'm on the phone with my mom and my dad who work with with us all the time, yeah. My brother, we're we're a very close family, and if she calls me, she calls me every day. So if she calls me and I'm on the phone with them, I'll patch them through and just kind of they'll start speaking and she'll get very confused for about one minute and then just crack up laughing for like five minutes. Say that we pranked her by by patching through a call. Um, she loves jump scares. Yeah, you know, she'll growing up, you could never walk around a corner without someone ready there to jump out.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Oh, that's great. Now the all right, let's let's focus a little bit on the farm. How does this so I so I walk in the front gate and then I'm just like blown away with what I'm what I'm seeing? It's just so so special. So take us sort of like under the hood. What why were things put where they are? What are they? What do they do? What is sustainability? What does all that mean?

SPEAKER_02 11:25

You know, we we think through kind of the the landscape of the farm in a in a couple of different levels. We have the accessibility level, the farming level, and then the aesthetic level. We wanted to we want it to look pretty too. But um, we we really wanted to design everything that we do with accessibility at the forefront. Um we have kind of accessible design standards that every does every developer has to do. You know, you should have ramps, you have to do all of this, but not with the the mindset that this is primarily for folks with disabilities. And so we when we designed the farm, we wanted to make sure we had level ground that we could uh pave and make sure that folks with mobility aids could easily get around. Um we wanted things that were easily easy to identify for folks with vision or other cognitive issues that they can say, hey, this area, this whole area, that's the greenhouse, this whole area, that's the nursery, this whole area, that's the we try to segment things off as much as possible to make it easy so that if someone's having a bad day, hey, go go hang out with the chickens for a little bit. Yeah, the chickens I got the hole, by the way. Yeah, we identify those spaces. Um, that's really core to what we do as well. We we thought through sustainable design through through kind of uh a regenerative agriculture where we're never losing any sort of nutrients. So we grow hydroponically, which is a more sustainable way of growing, uses less water, uses less fertilizer than traditional agriculture. Yeah. We're able to capture that nutrients, feed our nursery with it. We have rainwater collection. Um, pollinators are very important to us, and growing those native plants that can really help our local ecology because we really serve a very small local community.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Sure. Wow. What okay, there's a great story behind building that, resurrecting, I should say, resurrecting that that greenhouse and the number of inches from the front to the back and just everything you guys took me through.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Yeah. So we uh when we designed the greenhouse, you know, luckily my dad's an engineer, he's a civil engineer, so I'm very glad to have all of his his his uh insight. It it slopes at 18 degrees from the top of the greenhouse to the bottom so that we can use gravity to to recirculate our greenhouse without having to use extra pumps.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Um, it's all in an inflated greenhouse. The walls of the greenhouse are inflated for insulation. Sure. Um, and we use uh shade cloth to cool it down in the summer, a giant wet wall cooler. So everything is designed for that kind of ideal environment for plants to grow.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Yeah. It's interesting because you have you have two different things you've you've combined, right? So you have the whole sustainable farming piece is one story in and of itself. And if you just stopped right there, it's incredible, right? So how did it sort of come together in the family to go like, well, we want to focus on special needs, and and more importantly, I think even is Down syndrome, correct? All spec all special needs. Okay, all special needs. So how did they like how did that whole decision come together?

SPEAKER_02 14:33

Because you said you want to do t-shirts and like yeah, we wanted so the first point was we want something that created a lot a lot of jobs. Farming creates a lot of jobs, there's always stuff to do. Okay, we want something that was easy to make accessible and something that could develop housing. Um, agri developments are kind of the newest, newest development model that is kind of spreading across the country.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

What's the word?

SPEAKER_02 14:53

Agridevelopment. Agri development. Okay, okay. Um, you know, we have the the swim and tennis developments of the 70s. Yeah. That's where I grew up. You know, I love growing up walking down to the pool. Uh you have the kind of the country club, you have the equestrian developments. Yeah. Uh, but at agro development is a newer, newer model. Sarumbi farm in Atlanta is kind of the big one in Atlanta. Oh, Sarumbi, okay. Yeah, I've heard of that. They yeah, they have a pretty good recognition in Atlanta. They they developed a whole live, work, play, pedestrian-friendly local shops and and restaurants, uh, development all based around a farm. And so instead of going down to the pool, you go to you go over to the community garden. Um so the idea was always and has always been housing. That's always been the vision that we have. Yeah. And so farming kind of fit all three of those in a way that t-shirts are, you know, sure other things didn't. We really wanted to have that aesthetic, that extent aesthetic quality of the pretty, you know, plants are always pretty. Uh, but having a farm where folks can be engaged in something when while they're living there is important.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah. Now, how does the how does the hiring for this work? And what are the different positions? Like there's got to be somebody teaching the farmers and like take take us through all that.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

Sure. Yeah, we uh so we have our farmers. Um, they are all coming through us kind of post post-high school. There's there's a huge cliff of services there where when they're in high school, they can be in high school till they're 22, um, which is great. Yeah, they're there every day. But when you hit 22, the day you hit 22, you're out. Really? Even if it's in the middle of the year. Um like legally. That's a law. Yeah. The uh wow. The day you turn 22, you're cut off from those services through the county education. And there's great transition services where they try to place people places, but yeah, um, the need is just incredible. It's gigantic, it's gotta be gigantic. And so they our farmers primarily come to us through that post-secondary uh time period where they're looking for extra skills that they can develop developing job skills. Uh and then we have our job coaches who are kind of our all-star volunteers.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

So they how do you find them?

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Um, so our farmers generally find us. Okay. Um the need for services is that strong that folks. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Farmers find you.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

How do you find the we find job coaches mostly through word of mouth? Um, most of our farmers have found most of our job coaches have been friends of a job coach who come in, have been friends of a friend, um, as well as through wonderful opportunities like this to share our story.

SPEAKER_03 17:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Um we we're a community-run organization in that our job coaches who we do we do ongoing training with them. They have a initial training, then ongoing trainings so they're comfortable and they know what they're doing. Um we're community run. They they are our community and they are from this local community and they want to help give back. And so volunteer like volunteerism is volunteering. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

All volunteers. That's incredible. What so let's take a pause. What if somebody wants to volunteer? What if they're interested? What is that process? Do I can I send them to a site? Sure. Do they come and do a tour? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

On our website, we have a how you can help page that has a volunteer form.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Okay. So all right, I'm here. Yep. How you okay, so peachtreefarm.org and how you can help.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Okay, cool. Yeah, I see. Right here. You scroll down, there's a volunteer form, you fill that out. We reach out to you to schedule a kind of a tour and and training.

SPEAKER_03 18:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Um, so all of our job coaches uh go through kind of a an initial tour and training where they learn a little bit. And then uh we have a workbook that they go through, everyone's background checked. You know, safety is really our top priority, both kind of worker safety, you know, on a farm, making sure everyone's safe, right? Yeah, handling shovels and everything, but also the general safety of our farmers. They go through a background check. Um, and then they uh start working with us. And so there's an ongoing formation process with them as they get started, start with just one day a week, you know, and most of our job coaches only work one day a week, they kind of commit to that one day. Yeah. Uh but they start with one day, see how they like it, keep you know, adding on what they can do.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Yeah. That's that's awesome. All right. So we've got volunteers, we got farmers. What what help, what else makes this machine operate on a day-to-day basis?

SPEAKER_02 19:11

Our community partnerships. We have some really, really great community partnerships with our local school system, uh, some local special education academies. Okay. Uh that are private. They come out to the farm. They we provide those those students with vocational training as well. We're we're post-secondary primarily, yeah, but we uh want to make sure that in the future, we want to make sure we're able to provide students who are currently in secondary academies the opportunity to develop the skills before that they age out.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Yeah, interesting. Okay, so I would imagine focus on efficiency and output are not things that we're worried about on the farm, right? Not at all, what is what is it?

SPEAKER_02 19:52

This is one of the things that our job coaches really talk about.

SPEAKER_03 19:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Because most of our job coaches are retired. Okay. So have spent your 30, 40, 50 years high output, high efficiency. If you're not the most efficient one in the office, then you're you're gonna get cut first. So uh one of the things that they say is really hard for them is efficiency is not our goal. We are not the most efficient farm in Atlanta. Yeah. In Georgia, we're definitely not the most efficient farm in Georgia, but uh but we provide the best quality services for folks with disabilities. Yeah. And I I would rather have a farmer plant 10 seeds or the whole day, yeah, but do that independently, yeah. With that with any support that they need, doing it with independence and dignity than be forced to struggle to plant a thousand seeds a day. Yeah. You know, that's that's something that we're able to do as a nonprofit and as a as a training organization. Yeah. Uh efficiency is not our goal. Uh you know, it's okay to make mistakes, you know, things that most companies, most organizations, if you're not, if you're making too many mistakes, you're you're gone. You're gone. So we want to make sure, hey, you you plant this wrong. That's okay. We'll figure it out. Yeah. Um that flexibility, and you know, that's what makes disability special is it really requires that flexibility. It requires that efficiency is not your goal.

SPEAKER_03 21:14

Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

You know, I think of the just the level of confidence that a child gets, or a child, a teen, an adult get when they could be at home because 70% of them are at home, right? Right. Versus being here. And like I remember watching one of the coaches was like holding with two hands a little branch, and then one of the farmers is like learning how to cut it. Yes. And like that's such a normal like you and I wouldn't think twice pick up a pair of scissors and cut it. Done. Off to the next thing. And but to watch what went into it was was incredible. How about the confidence for that person?

SPEAKER_02 21:58

Yeah, it's confidence, is one of the things that. I personally have seen the most growth in our farmers with. You know, one of two two examples of it. One, our very first farmer, James. Um he came to us right after high school. He was a twin. His brother didn't have disabilities. And so he didn't stay through 22. Um, because you know, wanted to make sure that he was at level with his peers in terms of when he was finishing. Uh he uh he worked us for a year, he helped us build the greenhouse. You know, we built this whole script greenhouse out and he was there along every part of it. Yeah, you know, and it was simple things like I'd I'd be renting something in and he'd hold the rent on the other side so the bolt wouldn't move, you know. But that's you know, he for the rest of his life and say he built a greenhouse. Uh he worked us with us for a year, took a gap year, and then went off to he's at the University of West Georgia now. Um, and he came shy, quiet. You know, when you start and you live your whole life as an outsider who needs extra support, you know, it's hard to develop that confidence. Right. What we saw with James was he was able to come here and and really thrive socially with with peers in an environment where it was there's no shame to ask for assistance, there's no shame to advocate for oneself, there's no shame to not be the most efficient, there's no shame to get something wrong. Yeah. And and really for the first time, get to to live in those, that kind of core accessibility area. He developed confidence. He lives by himself at West Georgia, studies. Wow, he's a junior now. Very proud. The other one, she was there today. Um, she she's 39.

SPEAKER_03 23:42

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

And before COVID, she was out kind of doing some day programming, um, which is where there's kind of in the community doing doing all sorts of stuff, but it's not really employment. She took everything off at COVID. You know, disability employ COVID really impacted folks with disabilities disproportionately in terms of all sorts of medical stuff, but also the just the safety element. Um so she she spent the last five years at home really doing um whatever she could do at home. Yeah. She started with us about six months ago and uh cried pretty much the whole first day. Oh, because it was her first time really getting back out into 39, re-redeveloping the those social skills and that the the ability to um work with independence is really incredible to see that re that coming coming back out. Some of the skills she already had, some of the skills that kind of fell off, really come back out. And she she's just like the ball of joy. I mean she came into my office just hey, just yelling this morning, just hey, how are you doing? How's your week going? Just the best.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

That's great. That's I mean, that's really the sweet spot of why I saw a show and a great episode here because it's you know, I sat with your dad that day for probably 45 minutes talking to Joey on the couch. It was like, I am so glad I didn't get my car and leave. Because what I've learned in that conversation, you know, to see what went into forming a thought, but then when it was formed and communicated, there was humor in it, there was you know, joy in it, there was love in it, there was all these emotions. And I I can't say at 46 that I've really ever been there or had that. So I would say that was a pivotal point for me as well. Yeah, you know, maybe for them, but for me, I mean, I left there and was just like, wow, I can't wait to share this with people, yeah, what's going on there. Because I know I haven't seen it, but I don't look for it. There, there it might there might be other places out there, but I'm not looking for it.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

Well, and people with disabilities are everywhere, yeah. And having the opportunity for them to really thrive, you know, the opportunity for them to truly be themselves and and not feel any sort of shame is really that's when they're able to be them their most selves and share those share those emotions.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Uh, you know, if you meet meet someone with disabilities out on the street, they would love to talk to you. I'm sure folks with disabilities are some of the most friendly, wonderful people in the world. Uh, but when they are in an environment that's really truly supportive, that's when they can really just open up, open, open up their whole self up to and show kind of the beauty of life.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

And you guys get to like do that every day.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

Every day.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

And that like I just look at that and I go, oh my goodness, like how and why? Like, this is great. Like, I'm learning the the the why of it. I mean, I could see the joy, I can see it in I could see it in your eyes.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

I mean, yeah, we I mean a couple weeks ago we had a fall festival, and you know, that's that's a busy Is that the tomato one? Yeah, that's our tomato festival.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Tomatoes, uh tailgate for tomatoes. So cool.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

And uh that's a big week for me. Yeah, that's sure one of my busiest weeks of the year for sure. Um I was stressed, you know, just like everyone gets stressed at work. And we were out there on the farm, and all of a sudden, I don't even know what song it was. It was just kind of I was just in this we've got to get this, this, this, this, this, this. Yeah. And everyone started dancing and singing. I mean, it was just kind of a spontaneous thing. One person started dancing, someone else was like, I want to dance. And uh all I was surrounded by folks with disabilities just dancing and singing. I was like, oh my god, I was there to worry about. If I don't get this done, I don't care. This is this is all tomorrow. Yeah, we'll do it tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

So another thing I saw that day was the like huddle meeting in the morning. Yeah. That was so cool. Like, what is that all about? Is that every day?

SPEAKER_02 27:45

Yeah, we start we start every day with a staff meeting. We really want to develop. I mean, we we talk about developing kind of general job skills and specific skills. So specific skills for landscape, nursery, agriculture, grounds maintenance. But then the general job skills, including those soft skills, um, and being able to sit through a staff meeting and ask questions and listen to kind of your task for the day and go back to them throughout the day, is something that professionals do all the time. Sure. And so establishing, hey, every morning we have a staff meeting right at nine o'clock. You have to be here at nine o'clock for the staff meeting. Yeah. And setting out, here's five tasks we're gonna do today. We may not get to all of them. We may get through all of them. That's great, but we may not get to all of them. But starting every day with a, with a professional staff meeting that allows the farmers to say, Well, I don't know how to mulch, you know. Most of our farmers know how to mulch. That's what that's a pretty common task for us now. But uh, I don't know how to propagate Cuban oregano.

SPEAKER_03 28:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

How do I do that? Oh, thank you for letting me know. Once we get out there, I'll show you. So it really sets that expectation of professionalism for our farmers.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Today's episode is brought to you by Killer Shark Marketing. I started the company in 2007, being completely exhausted and tired of the marketing runaround. And folks, if you own a business, you probably know what I'm referring to. Well, welcome home. Marketing is most effective when we can meet face-to-face quarterly. So if that's the kind of relationship you're looking for, like I said, welcome home because we will be the last stop for you. Head over to our website, killersharkmarketing.com, and you'll see exactly why we're different. Okay, what I would think there's a spectrum where a farmer comes to you and you may want with every morsel and DNA in your body to take them, and you can't. What are some of the guidelines where you can't where you can take somebody and then when you can't take somebody?

SPEAKER_02 29:41

Our biggest limitation right now is capacity, you know, making sure we have enough volunteer job coaches there to provide those.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

Is there a number like one to ten or one to six?

SPEAKER_02 29:50

We try to keep at least a one to four ratio of participants to job coach or supervisor of some sort. Okay. And so we're in the process of expanding that capacity right now so that we can keep adding more farmers. Other things, we're not able to offer restroom assistance. That's kind of a more difficult service that uh vocate that pre-vocational services providers do. Is that like what it sounds like? Or is it okay um we're not able to do that? No, it's just something beyond our capacity.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

Um, we don't want to put our volunteers in that position.

SPEAKER_03 30:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:24

Um so we that's kind of one of our bigger limitations right now in terms of accessibility. That's really the only thing in terms of what makes someone successful, which is kind of a a better way that we like to think through it as what makes one successful is if they have just the interest in working. Um, everyone wants to work, and that's you know, that's everyone's right. Sure. Uh, but if they have an interest in working, if they have an interest in kind of getting their hands dirty, which can be a big limitation for a lot of our participants. You were telling me that day that they don't like to sensory sensory issues are a huge thing for folks with disabilities, also in in all sorts of ways. You know, some people are sensory-seeking, sensory avoidant. And so we try to make the farm accessible on both ends of it, um, where some folks don't like the feeling of their hands getting wet or their uh hands getting dirty. Other folks love it. And so, you know, if you love it, that's great. That that that'll make you a great farmer. If you don't, well, let's think about other ways we can have you involved.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

Okay, so it's not a deal breaker. No, not a dealer if I don't like get my hands dirty. Not at all. You'll still find something for me to do. Okay, got it. Got it.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

Wow. And it might be this is the point of accessibility. It might be, well, could you do it with gloves on? Yeah, absolutely. Of course. Sure. It might be no, still no. All right, well, let's figure something else out. But you know, having that creativity of what is this really about? And if it's about actually my hands are dirty. Yeah, let's put gloves on it. So now your hands aren't your gloves are. That's fine. You'll throw your gloves off. Sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

How about the how about the uh the coaches then themselves? Are there particular traits that makes one better than the other or more effective than the other?

SPEAKER_02 31:59

All of our coaches are are great.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Like, is there anything that I would come to you with and you'd be like, you that's not the right fit for us? Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

I mean, I think if someone really is is convinced that uh efficiency has to be the priority. You know, wrong place. Wrong place. Uh if someone um comes and and kind of has doesn't have the the compassion and the patience, it would take it takes compassion, it takes a lot of patience to to be out there. Um but for the most part, folks who want to be out there are generally the right fit.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

Do you think if they were like, I'm just curious, if they were anything, any particular role in their careers, would anything be a better fit than not a better fit? Like if they were a manager. I I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

I mean, you know, that's that's a very interesting question. We have folks who have come from a variety of backgrounds.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

Um you know, we have one volunteer uh came from a sales background.

SPEAKER_03 32:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

And she was she sold cars. Um and but she loves plants and she loves and she has the patience for working with folks with disabilities. That's cool, yeah. Yeah. Uh we have other folks who have come from kind of corporate insurance world, and um, that has nothing to do with farming. That has nothing to do with folks with disabilities, really. But they have that heart and they have that passion.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Got it. So it wouldn't be the it's not the plants in the farming. It's not they didn't like they didn't have to have a child, a friend, a cousin, a brother that was disabled. It's not really those two. What it really is, if I'm understanding it, they've got to have the heart, which is the desire, which leads to the compassion, which leads to the patience, right?

SPEAKER_02 33:43

And it I'd say it gets easier as well. Yeah. So many folks have never worked with adults with disabilities. You know, they're such a segmented population in so many ways. And so getting over the if if they have the heart and the desire to help people, yeah, getting over that first hump of uh, I don't know how to shake your hand if your hand doesn't look my like my hand. Well, sure. Talk about it. Like once you get over that hump, once you get over kind of that that difference and kind of see each other on on human-to-human level, yeah. Uh, it's all easy.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

It's all I couldn't believe every single one of them came, every single one came up to me and offered to sh like put their hand out, shake my hand, and introduce themselves. They're professionals. Everyone. Every single one. It was incredible. They're professionals. It was so cool. It's just so neat to see. Joe, what advice would you have for people who are who might just struggle? They they might have the heart or not have the heart. I don't know. That to be around or to engage with or to show compassion towards people with disability, whether they walk down and they're like, I don't want to see that, I don't want to deal with right. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

It's mostly I don't know how. You know, it's is it most folks are not I don't want to deal with folks with disabilities. It's I don't know how. And there's the fear of I do the wrong thing if I say the wrong thing. But I mean, the the the two things I would say is human to human, yeah, folks with with intellectual developmental disabilities are just as human as all of us. They make mistakes, they say the wrong thing, and they know they're and so they they are generally a very loving and welcoming and understanding group of folks. Yeah. The second piece is you know, with our job coaches, that what I see is this is this is a relational ministry, a relational service. It is not, you know, most farms volunteering is you know digging ditch from A to B, but this is digging relationship to A to B. You know, this is standing on not necessarily building the bridge, but standing on the bridge with someone else and listening to them and understanding their experience.

SPEAKER_03 35:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:40

And the more folks can build those relationships and understand person to person, the easier and and more wonderful it is to interact with folks with disabilities.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Yeah, that's special. Is there ever a time where people come in where farmers come in and it doesn't work? Didn't work out?

SPEAKER_02 35:58

We have had a few, so we try to be pretty uh slow with our intake of new farmers. And so that we we generally start with kind of a tour, they kind of see the environment and they kind of gauge their own personal interests. You know, one of the things we focus on is that folks with disabilities have a choice and and that independence involves choice. And so they may say, I don't want to be out here, this is not where I want to be. And that's that's wonderful. Yeah, even if they're family or caregivers, like this is perfect, I love this, whatever. If if the individual doesn't have that interest, that's not the right fit. Yeah, then we start with kind of a half day or a one-day trial period. Okay, and that might take you know a couple of weeks of just one or one day or half a day at a time to see, hey, is this person the right fit? Are they enjoying it? Are they interested in this? At that point, you know, it's really about conversation. You know, we're not the right fit. There are other organizations that can that can be the right fit for playing for people. And so being part of kind of the larger disability community is having those relationships with other organizations where we can refer folks to places if we're not the right place. Special. And are are they getting paychecks? Our farmers. No, our farmers we are pre-vocational interns. So um, and most of our families have said that's kind of the preferred model for them right now. Yeah. Um, the way disability benefits works is a pretty convoluted process that I won't bore your listeners with.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

All I need to know is is the government involved or not? And the answer is yes.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

I'll start spewing acronyms. Yeah. Um but our our farmers are there to primarily as as pre-vocational interns. So internship, you know, the difference between working and intern is they're there to develop specific skills. So we have a curriculum that focuses on general job skills, teamwork, self-advocacy, soft skills of work, um, task management. You know, can you stay on a task for for longer than 10 minutes? And however, I can. I'm on my phone. But right. Um But we we focus on those general job skills as well as specifics for landscape, grounds, maintenance, things that are accessible and have competitive job opportunities for our for our alumni. Um, and so we would rather focus on skills and make it a tuition-free program. So the farmers are not paying to be out there, which is somewhat unique for post-secondary programs. Um we're a tuition-free program um that really focuses on developing.

SPEAKER_01 38:29

So it's a hundred, so it's non-profit, is that the right word, nonprofit? We're nonprofit. Yeah, nonprofit.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

It's on we are 501c3 nonprofit. And so we uh, I mean, other other places are as well. They you're allowed to charge tuition for programs, but our focus would rather be on having the right fit for farmers.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

The right fit for farmers. Yeah, and then the events that you do.

SPEAKER_02 38:50

The tailgate, the tailgate, fundraising, yeah, sale of tomatoes. Uh, you know, we we can produce up to 200 pounds of tomatoes a week. Uh even higher than that sometimes in the summer. How do we buy? How do we buy them? We we go to farmers markets, which is another great retail job skill opportunity for our farmers. You know, we try to from start to finish, make sure we're always involving the farmers. We sell to a local distributor, Garnish and Gather, who they're a meal kit company and grocery delivery company that only work with really high quality local producers. Yeah. And they uh they distribute our tomatoes. So kind of those are our two main avenues. Uh, we do some some wholesale, uh smaller wholesale. And from there, is that the obvious where they then take them into Kroger or Publix or we haven't done the larger ones of um I mean 200 tomato 200, 250, 300 pounds of tomatoes is a lot of tomatoes a week. Yeah. Um, not quite enough for Kroger or Publix, but uh for a food, uh food distributor like Arch and Gather, which does grocery delivery in addition to the meal kits. Okay. We've sold to a winery who tried making a tomato wine. Whoa.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

Like on the office. Do you remember that with Dwight? Yes, bee wine. The beet wine.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

I don't know, I don't know. I can't imagine. Tomato wine. Well, grapes are sweet and acidic. Yeah. Tomatoes are sweet and acidic, apparently. It mostly added color. So yeah, makes sense. Um that's neat. So we try to have the right distributors as well, but we love farmers' markets. We're trying to get out there more so that we can really expose our farmers to that retail, those retail jobs as well.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:31

Are are there any other foods that you we are currently in the process of growing our collards. Uh so down here in Georgia, I mean you there's only one time of year you can sell collards, and that's at New Year's, because you have to eat collard greens and black-eyed peas at New Year's. So we we'll do a big collard green sale at New Year's. Yeah. Um then our the sale of our plants. Um, we do cut flowers and cut herbs at farmers' markets in the summer. Um, we have a smaller kind of in our raised beds outside, we grow stuff and we sell to a mobile market that does food desert distribution. Um, so food deserts where there's not grocery stores in areas where not people are able to access the grocery stores through transportation or whatever. They have a uh mobile market that goes in and provides kind of smaller farmers markets in those tailored locations. So we're happy to sell sell our produce to them, and that that's another, you know, just element of our mission.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

And that another way that they and it's another process that they get to learn and be exposed to.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

Especially at the farmers markets, you know. Operating a POS system, you know, taking cards, yeah, going up to customer service. Again, and I I can talk about how friendly and wonderful our farmers are, but when you see them at a farmer's market and they say, Hey, how can I help you?

SPEAKER_01 41:41

Right.

SPEAKER_02 41:42

It's a it's I know it's incredible. Oh, you were buying tomatoes, we're gonna do BLTs, you know, same thing that a farmer's market vendor does. Right. Um yeah, they they get to experience that retail option, which is something that we're hoping to keep expanding to. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

What is how about the vision as we look out five, let's say like five years. What's the vision on where this is gonna go? What other foods, how do you want this to move forward?

SPEAKER_02 42:08

So in the one-year vision, we'll start with the one year vision. We just launched a capital campaign to build three houses on site. We'll use two of those for independent disability living, uh, and then we'll use one as our education center. So we're hoping to include some value-added products, salsas, soups, um, and really expand kind of our our retail location. Um we're hoping to start a farmers market on site as well as oh, cool. Um very cool. And uh the five-year vision is a lot more houses.

SPEAKER_03 42:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

Uh we have full zoning approval for 15 single family homes on site. And we're kind of reserving all of those for, not kind of, we are reserving all of those for adults with disabilities to live with independence, safety, dignity.

SPEAKER_01 42:56

And how many can fit in one of these houses?

SPEAKER_02 42:59

It'll be three to four bedroom houses, so we'll have three to four residents.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 43:02

Uh so we're looking at somewhere between 45 and 60 residents, which in so many ways is kind of a a multiplier on what is currently available for disability housing.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

I'd be curious, is there like would there be some kind of test they would have to pass to know? Like, how would you lock the farm up at night, go home and feel comfortable that they would be okay?

SPEAKER_02 43:24

So we safety is a very strong priority for us. Sure. Um, it's less about we're not locking the farm up, we're not locking anyone in. That's um we are making sure that folks are empowered to advocate for their own safety. So we'll have someone on site, we will have a farm representative on site 24 hours. I mean that's so like an RA. Yes. Or okay. They won't they won't necessarily live on site, they'll probably be shift. Tours. Yeah. Yeah. We won't have anyone living in the houses with the individuals, but we'll have uh kind of tracking bracelets, some of the kind of national things that we we did a national survey for what. But has made communities safe and secure and in it with while balancing that independence and choice. And so having kind of life through 60, there's some it's not life alert, but there's some some nice, aesthetically nice, which our farmers do care about. Yeah, like sports watch. Sports watch looking, sort of tracking bracelets. So if someone is wandering away, their their caregiver or loved one who who helps them know that, hey, yeah, it's 11 30 and so-and-so's two miles away. Um moving further.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

Yeah, not good.

SPEAKER_02 44:34

Might want to just check in. Maybe it's and maybe it's mom or dad came and pick them up or whatever. Yeah, yeah. Good check-in time. Yeah. With that.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

Are they mostly local, the farmers you have now?

SPEAKER_02 44:44

They are.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

Like super local, like within three miles?

SPEAKER_02 44:47

Within within five, six, seven miles. Okay. It's uh since we don't charge since we don't charge a tuition, we're we're a pretty sought after program for folks. Not bad. Um, and that allows us to be selective and make sure that the folks we have are engaged and and enjoying working on the farm.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

Will there be another one of these in another city one day? If it was up to you.

SPEAKER_02 45:08

That's the that might be the 10-year vision. So five-year vision we're gonna have our 15 houses on site. We got the kind of all of the approvals for that. And so after we have that built, um, disability housing is not going anywhere in terms of the need quickly. So we build this here, we can build another one maybe 10 years down the line.

SPEAKER_01 45:26

We'll have one of these all around Georgia, southeast, across the country, somewhere that we can what would you do different, like going all the way back to the beginning of this, which was again 17-ish, is like where the thought started coming out. What what would you guys do different? Do you ever sit in the case? Got started sooner.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

Great. We started talking that's when you know you're doing the right thing. We started talking in 2017. We officially founded the farm in 2021, kind of coming out of COVID. Yeah, had a lot more time to think and talk during that. Um would have got started sooner. Um, you know, the needs have always been there. The always uh opportunity was there, and so I would have got started sooner. I would have um started three years prior to what I prior prior to that, and yeah, we would have already had houses.

SPEAKER_01 46:18

So wow. That's hot. That's when you know you're doing the right thing. That's cool. And would you say, would your dad agree? Would you say? Does he feel the same? That's a great question. I don't just love it. I mean, he seems to love he does love it. Just love being there.

SPEAKER_02 46:35

He can't get enough of it. I a family business is not for everyone. Yeah. Um, I love working with my family. You know, I get to I I'll brag on my both my parents, my dad, engineer, businessman, extraordinaire, uh, really has had such a successful career. Um, working with him as a mentor, both kind of personal mentor, but uh as a business mentor is tremendous. Yeah. My mom has been really my sister's caregiver for so long. And so bringing that caregiving knowledge to the table. And she's working on the farm most days now. So your mom is? She is, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:09

Get out. What does she do?

SPEAKER_02 47:11

Uh she's awesome. I mean, she does our bookkeeping. She does, I mean, all of that. And then she works as a job coach as well. She does. Yeah. Uh and I get to, I hate this is my embarrassing thing, but I'll say it. Even recorded. Uh my mom makes me lunch every day. She does. Yeah. She brings well, she's making a sandwich for my sister, she's making a sandwich for my dad. She's making a sandwich for herself. She's might as well.

SPEAKER_01 47:33

What's your what's your favorite sub your favorite uh what's your favorite uh sandwich that since we're on this subject?

SPEAKER_02 47:40

I love lunch meat. You know, I was I was vegetarian for three years. Um after college, I went vegetarian for three years. Yeah. That's from grad school, I didn't have enough money for meat. Um but I went vegetarian for three years. And I you know, you know, it's sustainability, all of that has always been a focus on. So uh and the thing I craved most is lunch meat. Yeah. You know, cold cuts for some reason to start what satisfied.

SPEAKER_01 48:05

I love it. Mom makes the sandwiches. That's great. So it's family business. Family business. I mean, that's the heart of America, the heartbeat of America right there. That's awesome. What was it like the first time that you were maybe like out in public or something with your with your sister?

SPEAKER_02 48:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

And you really felt rude rudeness or disregard.

SPEAKER_02 48:33

I can think of them first time. I can think of them a very recent time. Um, my sister loves anything brand costumes, Halloween's her favorite holiday. We went to Dragon Con in Atlanta. Oh. And uh she went as Zelda. I went as Link. And we want to call in my it's a lot of folks with disabilities love transportation, trains, everything. That's just like a big thing that folks really love. It's kind of a shared special interest for a lot of folks. My sister loves Marta. So dressed as Zelda and Link at 8 a.m., we we boarded Marta, uh, full costumes, everything got up, and it was the day of the Georgia Clemson game. So we got on the plane, and there's and not even Georgia fans, which you know, I could I could be around them, but yeah, Clemson, Clemson fans. Uh, I don't know. Uh surrounded by Clemson fans, uh, all ready to go to gaming. And she's got her elf ears on, and we got we got I'm wearing I'm wearing a wig. Yeah. And uh it was a moment where I was like, you know, I'm not so right in my life, because I'm not wearing orange. Right. And uh that's my that's my Georgia go dogs for today. Uh-huh. But where I'm living my life with someone else, you know, that independence and and community are equally tied. Yeah. You know, the the difference between the two groups, you know, there's Dragon Con, me and my sister, and then all of the rest of the whole butt, the whole train was plumps of fans. So uh that difference of hey, we're doing what we love, yeah. They're doing what they love to, I guess. But um we're doing something kind of different and unique, and yes, it's really kind of that those moments where uh she got on the on the train, we were, you know, we're not the top stop, so there was the train was already full. So start just started saying, There's no seats, there's no seats until someone felt bad enough to give us their seats. So you know, I think she has that, I think that was a sense of humor on her on her part.

SPEAKER_01 50:38

But uh But does any has anybody like been rude to her because of disability?

SPEAKER_02 50:45

Yeah, I mean, uh you know, my first memory of kind of disability was yeah, that moment where a friend of mine growing up was like, something's wrong with your sister. What's wrong with your sister? I was like, nothing, nothing's wrong with her. Did you think anything was wrong? I I knew there was a difference there, but nothing was wrong. You know, uh when you grow up with someone with disabilities, it's not, hey, this is wrong, this is this is different.

SPEAKER_01 51:09

Yeah, you don't look at it that way, you don't look at it that way.

SPEAKER_02 51:11

Instead of expecting your sister to have a long conversation with you, you're you know how to communicate with the different ways that she can. And so um she's certainly faced so many challenges. All of our farmers have faced so many challenges. We've had farmers who have gone to competitive jobs where the work environment may not have been the right fit for for them. Their coworkers may not have been as supportive, and so um having that um space where they can always come back, you know. Once you're on the farm, you're always a farmer. So always a farmer. Yeah, and there's an alumni program, you said, right? Yes. I mean, once you're a farmer, you're always a farmer. I know all of our farmers personally, and so I'm I'm always following up and making sure they're they're doing well. Yeah. Um but they face tremendous challenges, you know. Disability conceptually, big picture, disability is not about diagnosis. Disability is diagnosis just helps you understand what support you might need. Disability is the social context around someone that makes them unable to engage in society. And that's really the core of our model is that social model of disability.

SPEAKER_01 52:24

The social model. Interesting. Did not did not even I did not even realize there was a difference between those two.

SPEAKER_02 52:31

Yeah, I mean, it's um we we are trying to build a world and a community, starting with a community, but building a world where folks with disabilities are able to pursue whatever they want to pursue or independent living, whatever it is in a way that is not stigmatizing, is not inaccessible physically. You know, the having it physical inaccessibility, stigma, discrimination, those are all what makes someone disabled. Sure. Um it's interesting. And the more we can change the world, the more, the more we can, you know, it's not about finding the right medical fit, it's about finding the right social fit for the right social fit.

SPEAKER_01 53:12

I can't imagine once they're living there and you have that whole process right in one, that's gonna be incredible.

SPEAKER_02 53:19

It is. I one of our farmers will show up every day and say, Where's my house? So they they want it, you know. Right. This is in addition to knowing that that folks with disabilities need housing, yeah, they want housing. They want it, they want that independence. Um so many of our folks are young adults who, when I was 22, you could not have paid me enough money to move back to my party. Right, right. Um and so they want that independence. Yeah. They want that choice and that freedom that that they as human beings deserve.

SPEAKER_01 53:51

Yeah. So I'm interested in in something else here before we close. The family dynamic always always intrigues me when it works out in business, and and I can hear a confidence in your voice that that it does work out. It's a natural fit. What what was the relationship like with your dad? Start back as early as you can remember. What are things you heard? What do you remember him telling you, teaching you?

SPEAKER_02 54:23

Everything. I mean, my dad and my mom have been there throughout my entire life, just with the consistent support, with the consistent love, with the consistent uh desire for us to be better and do better and continue to get better. Um my dad, very successful businessman, almost never missed one of our, you know, as a wrestler in high school, almost never missed, and those are boring matches. Never missed them, almost never missed a wrestler. Where did you go to high school? I went to St. Pius. Okay. Um, you know, prioritizing family has always been really at the the core of how my dad, how my mom have approached life. Um family always comes first. And so um, even in business, you know, you know, uh through thick and thin, we family would come first for me always.

SPEAKER_03 55:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:17

And that that really comes from them. They really set that example in the way they were parents to us, and the way that they showed up for their siblings, and the way they showed up for their parents, you know.

SPEAKER_01 55:27

Oh special. Yeah. And you have siblings as well. Tell us about.

SPEAKER_02 55:32

Yeah. Oh, bless my mom's heart. I have I have three siblings. So my sister, my older sister has disabilities, she works out on the farm. Uh, I have an identical twin brother, um, and then 13 months older than me and my brother is my my older brother. So my mom had three under two. Uh three under two. It's incredible. I cannot imagine how how she did it. Um just saying that. Three under two, four years later, yeah. Uh had a child with some extra needs. So she so she's been a tremendous, tremendous.

SPEAKER_01 56:08

That's gotta be challenging, and especially in the beginning years, the earlier years. I would think it would be more challenging for a mom, for a mom, a parent, for a family.

SPEAKER_02 56:16

And you know, now looking back, she's that she's shared how challenging some of those times were. Uh, the tears that were shed, the the the shattered expectations for what your child can and and could do. Sure. Uh, but she didn't share that with us as kids. You know, part of my commitment to disability inclusion comes from my parents who never, never would have made it seem like there was anything wrong with my sister. Because there's nothing, because they because they knew then that whatever challenges they had as parents because of it, there was nothing wrong.

SPEAKER_01 56:47

Wow. What a story. That's incredible. All right. Well, folks, that does it for today. Um, I can't say thanks enough for just for taking the time.

SPEAKER_02 56:59

Jeff, thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_01 57:00

Just for taking the time to come over here and like share the what goes on in day-to-day and just to hear a little bit more. I'm always intrigued by the person's heart, and and and I can hear so much in your voice of like just the love of what you do, right?

SPEAKER_02 57:16

I love it. It's the joy of my life.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

I I would not, like I said, I think it's most important to highlight, I would not have done this interview had I not stepped foot on that property. I may have, but I most I don't think I would have. I mean, it was so incredible to just be there and feel it and see it and watch and watch the engagement. I mean, it's so much more than just a place, so much more than just a place where people go to work. I mean, so um yeah, I mean, thanks for what you do for thank you for humanity at the end of the day. I mean, I'm grateful for what humanity does for me. Yeah, you know, it's special.

SPEAKER_02 57:51

So I don't leave any day, sad.

SPEAKER_01 57:53

Yeah. So uh just if anybody wants to connect with you guys, just go through that. So the website's peachtreefarm.org. Peachtreefarm.org. There's no s on farm. We're just the one. Singular, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:03

I knew it's at peach um peachreefarm.org. Uh, you can reach out to me at office at pechtreefarm.org. That's our general mailbox. Uh find us on social media on Instagram, Instagram, Facebook, Facebook, TikTok. TikTok. Okay. Our farmers love making TikToks. Can we s they do? Oh my, they have so much fun with it. Awesome. I love it. They do it, they want to do it more than I have the time to do. They do. Oh, that's so cool. Um we've gone viral a couple times, it's been kind of wild, but um, we have like 100,000 views on one of our videos. It's wild. I TikTok amazes me.

SPEAKER_03 58:38

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 58:39

Um, I love it. Social media, and just reach out to us. We would love to chat with anyone. Um, that's really one of my favorite things, is just chatting with folks. So yeah. Thank you so much for having us.

SPEAKER_01 58:49

Yeah, we appreciate it. Thanks for being here, Jeff.

SPEAKER_00 58:53

Thanks for watching the Jeff Obeck Show. Be sure to subscribe and follow us on all socials.