NORVELL TWP., Mich. — Jessie Behen attentively filled an apple seed pot, running her fingers through a container to find the best pinches of dirt while sitting inside a skills center at Imagine Center Farm. She is happy and engaged, but her family says it hasn’t always been that way.

The Behens have established a new day program on about 72 acres of farmland at 6600 Norvell Road in Norvell Township near Grass Lake for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities to learn life and work skills and stay active. Dad and founder Michael Behen is a practicing psychologist who can create individualized plans for program participants.

Jessie, 39, is the inspiration. She has chronic encephalitis, a condition that causes inflammation of the brain.

These days she talks more and sings — she loves Bob Dylan and Bob Marley — and she finds fulfillment gardening and caring for farm animals. But years back, she had become depressed and less communicative. She aged out of school programs at 26. Her family struggled to find a work skills program that would take her due to her lower level of functioning, and day programs for adults weren’t working out for her.

“The biggest challenges have been getting her involved in the world, and convincing other people that her life is just as meaningful as everybody else’s,” her brother, also named Michael Behen, said.

Several years ago, the family bought and renovated a farmhouse for her to live in with the help of her care staff.

In 2022, they purchased a beautiful, rolling farm property next door and transformed a house there into a skills center for Jessie and other adults.

Jessie is excited more people will be joining her at the farm and work center, and she is looking forward to making more friends, she indicated with a nod and a beaming smile. She said her favorite thing about moving to the farm is getting to say “Hi, horsy” to Mattie and Charlie, two horses who live there.

Her family says her communication and motor skills have improved. She has lost weight being more physically active, and is more independent and social.

“She was educated in regular classrooms with aides, and the school went great, and then when she turned 26, everything changed,” Michael Behen, her father, said.

“I thought, someday, I’ll get a farm so she can live and work there,” he said.

An “overarching goal” of the program, her brother said, is to give adults skills that will help them compete for jobs. The center also hopes to hire some participants to work for them.

“Farming and everyday skills overlap with employability skills,” he said.

The center’s skills program is open to adults 18 or older. The family wants to focus on serving older adults who have aged out of programs through the schools and might be too isolated.

Adults with disabilities they were born with and adults with acquired conditions such as traumatic brain injuries can come to the farm to learn a range of skills.

They grow produce and flowers, including in a greenhouse they set up. They care for a variety of farm animals, including the two horses and some donkeys, goats, sheep, cattle, ducks, chickens, a peacock named Stanley and some peahens.

Chowder the male turkey follows people everywhere. On a recent Thursday, Chowder was strutting around in the basement of the skills center, where they have work benches for construction projects.

Program participants can also learn cooking and construction skills and how to do other homesteading chores.

They also built a farm stand and host events. They are planning to invite school groups on field trips to bring in the larger community. They are also working to schedule an open house.

Julie Dickerson’s daughter Elyse, 44, has been going there about twice a week, and she is “very impressed,” she said.

“She does have more serious autism, she says a few words, she signs and has an app on the iPad for communication,” Dickerson, of Summit Township south of Jackson, said.

“We’re working on social skills so she’s able to go out into the community, which is a challenge for her,” she said.

She said people with more serious impairments often “get left out” of programs. While Elyse participates in activities offered by a local church, she says there are not many options that work for her daughter.

“They are more challenging, and they require more staff. It’s just easier (to work with) people who are more mildly impaired,” she said.

“What I was most impressed about (is) that (Imagine Center Farm) is including everybody. It’s very inclusive,” she said.

Elyse plants seeds and loves being around the farm animals. She also likes to take walks on the grounds, which are calming for her.

“She’s fed chickens and gathered eggs. They have come up with cool things. They have had her working with tools,” Dickerson said.

Kristy Davenport, the center’s director, highlighted some benefits of having both indoor and outdoor activities.

Activities “go off the season,” Davenport said. During warm months, she said, they are mostly outside. But having the work center allows them to do things inside during the winter or rainy days.

“We can make anything inside. We can do animals inside. Plant inside,” she said.

Imagine Center Farm recently finalized a contract with Washtenaw County Community Mental Health. CMH will bill Medicaid for program participants from the county.

Others will pay out of pocket, but the center is fundraising to help cover costs for families.

Financing the establishment of the center has been a labor of love for the older Michael Behen, who said he has been putting in long hours as a psychologist for at least the last year.

A few adults have begun coming out to the farm on a trial basis already. A few more are going through the intake process. CMH is sending them referrals.

They could eventually grow to about 60 participants once the program is more established. They expect about 30 participants by summer.

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