Work at the farm to connect again

« The persons accommodated at Osmoy are certified unfit for work.
Yet thanks to the range of activities proposed by the association, they will be able to derive real benefits: this could be a unique opportunity to advance, a springboard toward work in a protected, or even ordinary environment. »

Émile Macquet

At Osmoy, in the Cher, the association Sésame Autisme Cher plans to open a medicalized home for autists in November 2008.
Accommodated in small family-sized dwellings, the 28 adults who will soon live in these premises will experience the pleasures of life in the country, in the midst of a five hectare property. To offer them activities helping them to open up to the outside world, Sésame Autisme Cher plans to open an educational farm.

The residents of the home will be able to learn the fundamentals of organic farming, and become initiated in raising animal breeds specific to the Berry area.

Élever les races locales

With this new initiative, the managers of Sésame Autisme Cher are in fact combining two objectives: to offer motivating activities to the resident adults, and to participate in the regional effort to conserve local species.

Within a few months, the farm will be opened to the public, who can come to discover the donkeys and black hens of Berry, the Cou-Clair goat, the Berry sheep of the Indre, etc.
At the same time, guided tours will be organized to enable visitors to savor local produce, such as heirloom apples. And workshops will produce products of the farm, such as jam and cheese.

Initially, the public will be guided during occasional tours and the residents will only be invited to participate in caring for the animals and growing the fruits and vegetables.
But educational workshops will subsequently be organized: depending on their inclinations and their progress toward openness to others, the adult autists can then particilate actively in the organization of the tours and of the workshops.
Thanks to the subjects addressed - the care to be extended to the animals, the cultivation of products of the land, the knowhow in preserves, etc. - Sésame Autisme Cher hopes to succeed in helping its patients renew contact with the public, and thereby take the first steps toward a meaningful well-being.