The idea was to create a community where people with special needs could work and live in an agricultural setting and learn the skills needed to succesfully run a farm. The componant that would make it unique was to locate the farm close enough to a major city so those who had the ability to "graduate" from the program could still live on the farm and find employment outside by accessing public transportation.

 It was at this point that I packed my bags and headed out west to Colorado to begin my own training as a farmhand on a small farm in Watkins, Co. located 30 miles east of Denver. The farm had sheep which were taken out each morning on horseback for grazing, goats to be milked twice a day, chickens to be fed and plenty of wood to chop for the winter. Although the experience was not as lengthy or productive as I would have hoped the 3 month experience instilled in me the idea that a program for people with special needs could work in a rural setting.

Coming back to New York I took on the job of Residence Manager for a group home for dual diagnosed individuals.

More on this on the next blog.

Welcome to the Shai Asher Blog page. I hope that through this medium you will become more familiar with what the program is, what we would like it to be and how much we are interested in your input.

The idea started for me over 30 years ago when I wrote a "Senior Project" paper for my undergraduate degree in Social Work at SUNY Stony Brook based on my experiences as the Resident Manager for a group home for 10 dual diagnosed men in Queens NY. When I saw the kind of work they were doing, basically the sheltered workshop approach, of putting pens together or sorting screws I thought that there must be a way to have them participate in more meaningful work. I remember getting a call from a floor suervisor that one of my clients was "acting out" and I had to come take him home. When I got there I told him that if I had to sit for 4 hours sorting screws I would also be acting out. 

The paper compared and contrasted life for residents in a inner city group home, Camphill Village in Copake, NY a pastorial rural farm for people with special needs which adheres to the philosophy of Anthroposophy. Critiquing both I created a compilation known as the M star T Ranch.

More about that later. Glad you are with us and hope you participate by finding more about Shai Asher and how you can contribute and help build a stronger and far reaching organization.