Meaningful Work

Jan Zuzalek, a member of Camphill Village in Sauk Center, MN, says there is a healing aspect associated with the community’s bakery. Part of that healing comes from doing the meaningful work of providing the Camphill residents with a wholesome staple food. Just getting your hands in the warm moist dough has its own therapeutic effect. In addition, Camphill is an agricultural community and baking bread is an agricultural act. According to Jan, “We raise our own wheat and it’s really important to make our own bread with it.” Many things come full circle at Camphill Village.

Established in 1980, Camphill Village is an agriculturally oriented rural community with adults who have developmental disabilities. Part of a large network of Villages around the world, Camphill Village is dedicated to fostering an atmosphere of confidence and mutual appreciation.

Learning from Each Other

The first community was founded by Dr. Karl Koening is Aberdeen, Scotland, whose vision was to focus on the abilities of each person, not the disabilities. Today Dr. Koening’s vision lives strong in over 90 communities in 19 different countries. In the words of the Camphill Association of North America, “Members of the communities teach and learn from each other in a process of mutual interaction. The needs of each person are met through living in a cooperative community – each individual contributing his or her own special gifts and talents.” These principles have led the Associations to be praised for their ‘balanced and comprehensive approach to addressing the real issues and needs of people with disabilities’.

At Camphill Village in Minnesota, there are:

* seven houses,
* a wood working shop,
* a weavery,
* a flock of chickens,
* a beef herd and
* large crop fields.

Echoing the founder’s intent, the community is heavily rooted in natural and agricultural cycles. Most of the crops are grown organically and the community responds to the cycles in the seasons. “We plan out our work schedules every six months based on the changing of the seasons,” says Mary Davis, who, along with her partner Tom Farr, manages the Village. “In the summer there’s the garden and the processing kitchen and the farm crops so our schedule has us more outdoors.”

From Compost to Kegs

Others in the community are responsible for:

* tending to the fields,
* working in the woodshop,
* helping maintain the grounds and buildings,
* caring for the livestock and
* possibly performing in the Village band.

For community festivals, the musical talent from within the community is pooled together into a band that, according to Sarah, plays really good music!

Fostering Family, Community, Society

“Camphill seeks to discover, support, and enhance the potential and meaningful contribution of each person…to encourage each person with disabilities to master his or her own life in the context of family, community, and society, emphasizing both independence and interdependence …to create lively, viable communities that celebrate the individual and make educational, social, cultural, and environmental contributions to society,” says the Camphill Association of North America. Camphill is a place where people with special needs, like Sarah and Jan, can sink their hands into life, enjoy the community of good friends and family, learn skilled trades and express their talents.