A Farm Less Ordinary

Specific Need

We hope to raise at least $30,000 today during the Give Choose fundraising marathon.

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HELP US REACH $13,600 AND WE WILL UNLOCK AN ADDITIONAL $13,600 IN CHALLENGE DONATIONS --> $27,200 IN TOTAL!

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Your donations contribute to the following organizational expenses:

$12,000 covers the cost of employing one adult with intellectual/developmental/cognitive disabilities during the growing season (last year we employed 27 Growers, and worked another ~33 special ed students, day program participants, and volunteer Growers)
$3,000 pays for a new lawnmower, weed and bush wackers, shovels, five rolls of landscape fabric, three rolls of plastic mulch, and one roll of row cover + hoops
$1,000 pays for 100 raspberry or blueberry plants our employees will harvest to create jams for sale year-round
$500 covers the cost of an average bi-weekly paycheck to a Grower with an intellectual/developmental/cognitive disability
$100 keeps the lights on at our farms for a month
$65 pays for 50 seed plug trays in which we start our seedlings each spring
$25 buys 5 packets of tomato seeds

Mission

A Farm Less Ordinary (AFLO) is a 501c3 non-profit whose mission is to provide employment and a welcoming community to adults with intellectual, developmental, and cognitive disabilities.

At AFLO, we serve Growers with a range of intellectual, developmental, & cognitive disabilities, which necessarily includes learning difficulties, almost always includes attention deficit issues, and quite often includes sensory integration disorders. In other words, our Growers have a range of learning disabilities and trouble focusing, particularly when there are distracting noises, crowds, lights, and conflicting demands for their attention.The simplicity of work in wide open spaces, with plenty of distance between yourself and other coworkers or volunteers, reduces the noise, crowding, and distractions of competing activities one would experience while working indoors, in a retail/office/industrial environment. Once outdoors in a peaceful farm environment, we can better capture our Growers’ attention to develop key employment skills.

We are a farm, a community, a tribe. Help us get people out of their houses and into paying, meaningful jobs. Help us give people the support they need and the respect they deserve as contributing members of our society.

Profile

Come to Our Music Festival, A Fest Less Ordinary, on June 22, 2024 in Purcellville, VA: www.afarmlessordinary.org/aflo-music-festival

Subscribe to Our Weekly Veggie Boxes this Summer and Fall through Our CSA Program: afarmlessordinary.csaware.com

Join Our Feast in the Field Dinner on September 14, 2024 in Leesburg, VA: www.afarmlessordinary.org/feast-2024

We are a small organization that has experienced some dramatic and wonderful changes over the last couple of years, since starting with a group of 4 young people with autism and learning disabilities on the co-founders' land in Bluemont in 2016. In 2023 we worked with 27 Growers with intellectual & developmental disabilities, as well as a Farm Manager, Assistant Farm Manager, and Two Crew Leaders. AFLO has also now partnered with two Loudoun families who have both donated the use of their land--first in Leesburg in 2020, and now at our second location in Lovettsville. This means that we operate two locations in Loudoun County!

Our Growers have a range of disabilities, including autism, dyslexia, developmental delays, learning disabilities, and mental illness. By encouraging self-advocacy and independent decision-making among our Growers, and by expecting them to come to the farm on-time and complete their work, our growers sharpen the skills they will need to work anywhere. Each week, we send our growers home with whatever is being harvested so they can make the connection between their work and the tangible, edible results of that hard work.

With two locations in Loudoun, we welcome volunteers at both locations (sign up at to volunteer here!), as well as students from Loudoun County Public Schools, the Arc of Loudoun's Aurora School, and the Jewish Foundation for Group Homes's Makom program. We also make weekly deliveries to Tree of Life's food bank to provide food-insecure people with fresh vegetables.