The ranch, nestled in the rolling hills a few miles south of Half Moon Bay, is a renovated farm that serves as a programming hub for underprivileged and special needs students and seniors as an extension of University of California. Approximately 1,200 students this school year have reaped the ecological rewards of the ranch’s gardens, greenhouse, farm animals, “sunshine, sounds and open space,” says Program Coordinator Leslie Jensen.
“Our emphasis out here is to get kids aware of where their food comes from and to inform them of the importance of plants as far as medicinal uses, providing oxygen and providing shelter for animals,” Jensen said. “We just want to make sure that kids understand that we can’t survive without plants so there’s a definite relationship there.”
 Bill Crandall, a member of the Atkinson Foundation board of directors, is flanked by other stakeholders at Elkus Ranch on Saturday. The foundation has been a longtime supporter of the ranch. |
Raised planters, wheelchair-accessible flowerbeds, and flat, rough ground are some of the components designed specifically to cater to the needs of people with mobility issues.
“What this allows is for people with different forms of disabilities to easily move and work in a garden atmosphere,” said Joyce James, a member of the Elkus Ranch Advisory Board and former director of the ranch.
Visitors generally take day trips to the remote ranch, where they plant, water, tend and harvest a variety of crops. Veggies, herbs, flowers and root crops are pulled and made into pizzas, salads, herbal tea and “bouquets for Mom,” Jensen said.
“It’s about the exposure,” says HOPE Services Community Support Facilitator Frank Guarino, who leads groups of special needs adults to the ranch to tend to the gardens every week. “We have not really found, on the coast, an area that has gone that extra step to create gardens that are truly accessible to our individuals. They get the full experience with these plants.”
A “sensory garden,” attached to the enabling garden, is also part of the experience. It’s designed to give people the “feel, touch (and) smell” of a garden year-round, and is also a hit with visitors and donors to the ranch.
Betty Curtis runs the Atkinson Foundation, a San Mateo-based grant organization responsible for funding a variety of improvements at the ranch. She says the foundation continues to support the ranch because of its “uniqueness.”
“I don’t think there are other gardens (in the county) like this,” Curtis said. “I don’t know of any that offer this kind of access to people with disabilities.”
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