9 May 2019
Farming requires a variety of skills, including physical and emotional strength, and Eurig Evans, who farms at Llanychaer near Fishguard, is using his experience and empathy to help those who are tested by daily life.
He aims to establish Gwaun Care Farm, where young people with a variety of difficulties may be helped to overcome their challenges through land-based activities.
With a bursary from Farming Connect’s Farm Management Exchange programme, Eurig visited Italy to see the work of the San Patrignano Care Farm – a sector leader in tailored rehabilitation for people with a broad spectrum of difficulties, including mental health issues triggered by addictions.
The visit was an inspiration to Eurig – who is about to embark on a course to become a counsellor - and cemented his belief that pursuing a rural skills programme delivered in the environment of a care farm could help people struggling with issues to regain their confidence within society.
“If there is one thing I took away from my visit to San Patrigano, it’s that it is possible to do anything. If you can turn someone living with heroin addiction around, you can do anything.”
Already involved in helping others, Eurig is a part-time tutor at Coleg Plas Dwbl in Clynderwen - which provides a range of land-based and craft activities to help young people develop their communication, social, work and living skills.
The students spend time on his 200-acre farm where he rears 150 dairy heifers and also has a quarrying business producing decorative Pembrokeshire Blue slate chippings. He recently gave up relief milking and bought a flock of 117 Friesland cross ewes – the milk from which goes to a local cheesemaker.
Says Eurig, “It is a fantastic way to teach the students where our milk is from, I’ve taken them to see cows being milked but now with the sheep they can experience milking on my farm, and also help rear the lambs.”
He adds, “I am also planning to develop woodland activities and green woodworking workshops, incorporating these into other nature-based activities to offer a holistic learning environment.”
Gwaun Care Farm is still in its early stages, but Eurig is determined to help as many people as possible, and also sees the establishment of the Care Farm as his future legacy.
He has been encouraged in his venture through joining a Farming Connect Agrisgôp group, which he credits with giving him the confidence and drive to make his plans a reality.
“I’ve had great support from Farming Connect, and the Agrisgôp group have been brilliant, so encouraging – I cannot thank them enough. I had the idea, but when you share it with seven or eight other people’s opinions too, and it helps you see things in a different light and explore different avenues.”
While not everyone may be inclined to share their thoughts or ideas with others in their immediate community, Eurig suggests they join an Agrisgôp group outside their locality.
There are broader social benefits for group members too, as farming can be a rather solitary life, which can have its own adverse effects on mental health and wellbeing.
He says, “As farmers, we don’t necessarily see anyone in a day. But leaving the farm, even for one hour, is therapy in itself.”