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JACKSON TWP. — Faculty and students from Misericordia University’s Occupational Therapy Program have started a research project to study the effectiveness of the Dream Green Farm Program at the Lands at Hillside Farms.

Anthony Grieco, executive director of the Luzerne Intermediate Unit, believes he already knows what the results of that study will show. The program increases the likelihood that students with disabilities will be productive and employable in the long term, according to Grieco.

The program is a partnership between the Luzerne Intermediate Unit and the Lands at Hillside Farms. It brings students with disabilities to the farm to learn skills, which may later translate into jobs.

The program has been in existence since 2009, growing from humble beginnings to a self-sustaining operation. About 30 students gain a better understanding of the value of hard work, the meaning of money and the benefit of following through with a positive effort by growing vegetables and taking them all the way to market.

On a recent day, Grandon Dewey, 17, of Dallas was preparing a portion of the 412-acre Dream Green Farm Program’s land for planting its most popular crop, garlic. Josh Lockavich, followed closely behind, planting bulbs in the holes and covering them with loose soil.

Dewey said the opportunity to learn and develop marketable skills are vast.

“Our boss teaches us a vocabulary and a word of the day. We have to learn things like planting and tilling. There are so many things to do here,” he said. “We learn people skills and math because you have to count cash and give people their change.”

The program goes beyond simply learning how to plant and harvest crops. Both students and mentors treat the experience as a real-life working farm.

The holiday season provides an opportunity for students to participate in sales of holiday wreaths, Christmas cactus plants and dried flower arrangements.

The students, ranging in age from 16 to 21, have the opportunity to participate in a program which grows not only plants, but character and confidence.

The relationships between the participants, LIU, the Lands at Hillside Farms and Misericordia has expanded this season with the start of the two-year, faculty-student research study. The study is titled “Effectiveness of a Transitional Agricultural Training Program for Adolescents with Autism and Development Disabilities Based on Outcome Measures.”

The six students involved in the study volunteered for the duty.

Jennifer Dessoye, assistant professor of occupational therapy at Misericordia, said a positive outcome of the program would be to create an array of programs similar to the Dream Green Farms Program across the region and nation, allowing other students with special needs to access the benefits of a horticultural transitional program.

Students clean out the animals pens at the Lands at Hillside as part of the LIU’s Dream Green Farm program.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL083014GreenGuide2.jpg.optimal.jpgStudents clean out the animals pens at the Lands at Hillside as part of the LIU’s Dream Green Farm program.

By Geri Gibbons

[email protected]

Reach Geri Gibbons at 570-991-6117 or on Twitter @TLGGibbons