CHILLICOTHE – At press time, a few shows remain in the Blue Ridge Community Farm’s fall concert series, but there’s no end in sight for Jim and Laura Sniff’s activities – or the love behind it..
A self-described “farm kid” from rural Dunlap, 65-year-old Jim tried college, traveled some, and settled in the area, where he’s invested in and manages properties. Laura, 55, grew up in Chicagoland and thought about teaching and tried sales. Like most lives, theirs took a few unexpected turns, and when their son Jimmy was born 23 years ago, the family faced his developmental issues.
They eventually took it as inspiration.
Seated at a shaded picnic table near their back door on morning, Laura shrugs, smiles and says, “It was a God moment,” and Jim smiles, an honest-to-God twinkle in his eyes.
Jim comes across as a problem-solver, an backyard engineer planning how to move a metal shed intact for miles to a pasture analytic, tackling a hillside that needs clearing, or conjuring how to renovate a 125-year-old barn.
Laura seems to be an empathetic dreamer who sometimes thinks, “What if…?
Together, they share ideas and visions, each stirred by Jimmy and special-needs challenges that they’ve tried to meet in with honesty, generosity and joy.
More than a dozen years back, the Sniffs took a pleasant if overgrown farm and turned it around, upside down and inside out. Eventually, a Dunlap teacher suggested bringing a class when the farm “had just a sandbox and a swing set,” Jim says. “The kids loved it.”
It ended up offering promise, a process using kindness to connect.
Today, dozens of group homes, schools and other organizations experience the farm, some 1,500 people a year, many with special needs
“Folks come and there is a lot of interactions and learning.”
The 240-acre farm has 4 1/2 miles of trails for walking in the woods, hay fields or valleys.
Nearby, a paint horse named Sugar ambles around a corral. Chickens walk and peck, several alpacas and a donkey graze, and two dogs peer out of a pen, wagging their tails. All of them get excited when people arrive.
“Our field trips include interacting with all of the animals, making crafts,” Laura says. “We want the children and adults to have fun and enjoy the farm. We meet them where they're at.”
Although Jimmy now lives in a group home, and the Sniffs’ daughter is in Wisconsin, the couple is far from “empty nesters.” There’s a stream of people, from field trips to curious folks who become benefactors.
Besides busloads, individual visitors vary, like federal judge Joe Billy McDade, local promoter Jerry Kolb, more than 150 people from Caterpillar assisting an operation helped by a few grants and some donations, and innumerable people with special needs who bring or find special moments here: “Hugs,” Jim says. “Breakthroughs.
“I remember turning around once and noticing some kids sitting around with no phones, no video games, just laughing and playing, like kids.”
The farm project expanded into retail when the Sniffs bought Picket Fence on 4th Street in Chillicothe and added more love.
“There aren’t a lot of jobs for special-needs people after they’re done with school,” Laura says. “I read that Illinois is 47th in the country for opportunities for them.”
Also a 501(c)3 not-for-profit foundation, Picket Fence is a garden center, floral and gift shop, and informal lending library on special-needs issues that “focuses on what special-needs people CAN do, not what they can’t,” Laura says.
Five developmentally disabled employees work there, doing inventory and pricing, re-stocking and handling displays, talking to shoppers and running the register – and others have creations showcased and selling at the store’s Ability Marketplace and Ability Crafts counters.
The goods come from all over the country, says Laura, adding, “There are a lot of entrepreneurs out there, and they and the employees are thriving.”
As for the weekend concerts, they’re on a grassy slope leading to a modest stage near a creek bordered by timber a short stroll from the house and barn. Shows start at 2 p.m., and they’re free – although the Stiffs ask people to register at www.blueridgecommunityfarm.org to get a ticket.
The setting is comfortable, a venue with fine sound and some special-needs vendors offering various products (refreshments are Bring Your Own).
“The concerts are relaxing, family-friendly – especially people with special needs,” Jim says. “We want everybody to feel welcome.”
Over the years, attendance has ranged from several dozen to more than 700.
This month, performers on Oct. 2 will be recording artists Deep Hollow Projekts and the high-energy folk group Good Morning Bedlam. On Oct. 9, Michigan singer-songwriter May Erlewine and the Americana duo Stone & Snow (Karen Bridges and Clint Thomson) will play. Sarah Marie Dillard is hosting the shows.
(If it rains, get updates at https://www.blueridgecommunityfarm.org or https://www.facebook.com/blueridgecommunityfarm.)
The Sniffs are unpaid but feel rewards they share with people who too often are forgotten, ignored or worse.
Jim dismisses praise.
“We just try to let people know they can do all kinds of things and to help them feel loved.”
How to help
To bring a group, visit or volunteer, or to contribute in other ways, Laura says, “If people would like to donate online, they can visit our website at www.blueridgecommunityfarm.org.”
Like Scouts, church groups and service organizations have done, volunteering starts by emailing contact information to blueridgecommunityfarm@gmail.com.
Donations by mail:
Blue Ridge Community Farm
21529 N. Blue Ridge Rd.
Chillicothe, IL 61523
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