Eventually, the bus stops coming. And then what?
As parents of children with developmental disabilities, we spend years preparing for that day when the school system no longer provides programming and services for our children--usually around the age of 22. What will our children do all day? Who will care for them while we are at work? Can they get a job? How will they be treated? Will they be happy?
Our Mission
A Farm Less Ordinary provides employment and a welcoming community to people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Our History
Maya Wechsler, Greg Masucci, and their children, were self-proclaimed "city people", struggling to find balance in their lives in Washington, DC. Their son, Max, is intelligent, autistic, and non-speaking, and requires a high level of support to ensure that he can achieve his goals in life. Eventually Maya and Greg decided to stop moving against the current, and took a giant leap, moving out to Bluemont, VA in the fall of 2014 in an attempt to create a simpler, safer, and happier home for their children.
After buying the land and trying to figure out how to continue their advocacy for the special needs community, now that they were in “the country”, Maya and Greg decided to create a farm where their son and other teens & adults with intellectual, developmental, and cognitive disabilities could find paid, meaningful work, acceptance, friendship, and self-confidence. They launched A Farm Less Ordinary (a 501(c)3 non-profit organization) in the spring of 2016.
A Farm Less Ordinary produces vegetables grown using organic and sustainable methods, including the use of organic compost, cover crops, minimum tillage, companion cropping, and a focus on attracting pollinators and "good pests". We also enjoy growing varieties of vegetables (have you ever tried a purple carrot or a foot long green bean?) that are a little less familiar, but just as tasty, to the average grocery store shopper.
In 2015, Maya managed to grow more vegetables than she could possibly give away. That was the year she learned to farm.
Upworthy.com Story About Our Family
2016
Became a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and began accepting donations.
First growing season when we worked with employees - adults with developmental disabilities from the surrounding area. These employees - or "Growers" - will always be our primary "customers". We hired five young adults with various intellectual disabilities.
Launched a small CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program with delivery on Capitol Hill in DC.
Built our own packing/cooling shed from scratch so that we could keep our veggies fresh before distributing them.
WUSA9 News Feature on A Farm Less Ordinary
2017
Hired a part-time Job Coach to support our Growers in the field.
Recruited a group of volunteers—in the dead of January—to help us build a “hoop house” that allowed us to start a huge amount of seedlings earlier in the season.
Partnered with Loudoun Hunger Relief (LHR) and Healthworks of Northern Virginia to provide CSA boxes with fresh, nutritious produce to 25 low-income families in Loudoun County, who struggle with obesity. Continued delivering CSA shares to Capitol Hill.
Attended a farmers market for the first time so that our Growers could--
Practice the “art” of setting up and breaking down a table and keep our produce fresh and attractive at market
Publicize our mission, and the importance of disability employment, with the general public
Give our Growers a chance to practice their social and change-making skills with strangers. We have discovered that our employees absolutely love the chance to participate in the market. They work on their math and communication skills and get a change of scenery and pace from their time spent on the farm.
Built a chicken coop, with the help of volunteers from American Woodmark company in Winchester, and started offering organic eggs for sale.
Began work on a goat and alpaca shelter with significant support from the Leesburg Presbyterian Church. Goats and alpacas to follow!
2018
We are now growing on a second field and experimenting with the production and sale of “value-added” products, including pickles, jams, pesto sauce, and even goat milk-based soap. We have introduced our employees to food safety concepts and skills, and are beginning to think about how we might scale up this side of our organization, in order to be able to sell products year round, and not just during warmer weather. We now have a few dairy goats as well as a flock of chickens. We have also started a small collection of bee hives, with plans to sell honey from them in the near future. We have also recently completed construction on a greenhouse, which will allow us to start crops earlier in the year, and grow during cold months - which means employing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities year round!
NBC4: Farm Nonprofit Makes Opportunities for All
2019
After our biggest employment season ever at our original location in Bluemont, VA, we have launched a second location in Leesburg. We are very excited about this opportunity to serve Loudoun County citizens (both volunteers and Growers with disabilities). We will run the farm at this location for at least three years, while we search for a permanent home in Loudoun County. (Know anyone with land in Loudoun that might be interested in allowing AFLO to operate there? Email us at info@afarmlessordinary.org and let us know.)
Voice of America did a really nice job of allowing us to explain exactly what we do here. Click the video below to check it out!
2020
This was a year of changes for AFLO (as well as everyone in the entire world). Despite having to cancel our big fundraising events, being able to carry out our mission outdoors was actually an unexpected benefit at AFLO, despite the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Our day-to-day operations carried on fairly normally. By the end of the year, we secured a new farm location in Lovettsville, VA, transitioning our equipment, fencing, and greenhouse from our original Bluemont, VA location to our newest home. We will continue to operate out of Leesburg, VA as well.
Oh, and Greg won a Good Neighbor Award from the National Association of Realtors, and they created a pretty fantastic video. Check it out!
Of course, we have a long list of medium and long-term goals to work toward (buildings to construct, staff to hire, tools and equipment to buy, consumers to reach). In the meantime, we are focused on realistic and slow growth, as we figure out who we are and how we can build a tight-knit community and right-sized employment solution for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
2021
Having survived 2020, A Farm Less Ordinary has focused on building out a second location in Lovettsville, VA. With all volunteer help, we built a new barn that includes our first covered wash station, as well as a professional scale (for weighing our harvest), equipment storage area, and walk-in cooler. We are lucky to operate on this land, thanks to our generous and experienced hosts. We feel a bit more settled at this point, which finally gives us the chance to turn our attention toward professionalizing our processes, staff, and planning. While we have always been a scrappy organization, the time has come to mature and sit still for a bit, especially now that we have such a large Grower and volunteer community that we are committed to welcoming at both our Leesburg and Lovettsville locations.
2025
(We skipped a few years of history—we know.) We operated at our Lovettsville location for four years, and are grateful to our benevolent hosts, who generously built out-buildings for us, hosted events, and helped us develop important, but often overlooked administrative processes, as we matured as an organization. After our Lovettsville hosts’ retirement plans changed, we have now consolidated operations to our Leesburg farm, which we hope to make our permanent home. Come out and visit our two greenhouses and our “Flying Nun Shed”, which professional builders volunteered to build so that we can shade our produce while we wash and pack it. We now host two annual fundraising events in Loudoun County: A Fest Less Ordinary (a springtime music festival in Purcellville) and Feast in the Field, when our Growers get to serve guests the produce they harvested, after it has been transformed into a delicious feast by a professional chef (Chef Erik of the Polished Foxx). We have quite an active volunteer program on the farm, and produce tons of finished jams and pickles to sell at the Leesburg Farmers Market and other events. Come out and visit!
“At present, there is no system in place that guarantees that young adults with IDCD will have the support they need to live in the community and to find and keep a job after the school bus no longer comes. Their future is uncertain.
• In Loudoun County, of the residents with cognitive disabilities aged 18-64, only 26% are employed, leaving 74% either unemployed or out of the workforce (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 American Community Survey).
“Physical benefits to [care farming] clients include improvements to physical health and farming skills. Mental health benefits consist of improved self-esteem, improved well-being and improvement of mood with other benefits including an increase in self-confidence, enhanced trust in other people and calmness. Examples of social benefits reported by care farmers are independence, formation of a work habit, the development of social skills and personal responsibility”