Organization offers treatment classes in exchange for farm work
By Susan Glairon The Daily Times
Away from traffic and tucked down a long driveway, a dream is quietly unfolding in Susan Nemcek’s mind. At her log home dotted by apple trees and surrounded by 5 acres of undeveloped land, Nemcek envisions a nonprofit providing alternative health care and wellness education for everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. Those unable to afford natural health care or classes on such topics as organic gardening to meditation would be able to trade farm work for treatment or classes, or pay on a sliding scale.
“Alternative medicine isn’t supported by insurance,†said Nemcek, a homeopath who previously owned Small Circle Imports in Longmont and worked as a social worker for 25 years. “All people deserve alternative health care, whether or not they can afford it.â€
Nemcek is the executive director of Willow Farm Healing Arts, which besides herself includes a group of seven board members. The organization has applied for nonprofit status.
Homeopathy uses very small doses of substance to stimulate the body to balance and heal itself. Western medicine tends to only deal with the symptoms and not the causes of illnesses, whereas homeopathy deals with the physical, emotional and spiritual causes.
Nemcek studied at the School of Homeopathy in Boulder, and has a certification in classical homeopathy. She also taught homeopathy at the Life Energy Medicine Institute in Tucson, Ariz. Since opening Sept. 19, she has offered homeopathic and meditation workshops in her spacious living room, where participants sit on comfy couches flanked by a wood fire. Chickens and dogs run around the property and goats graze in a fenced-in field.
Seed money for the home and land came from a living trust provided by retired Denver entrepreneur Allan Mehl, 92, a former North Dakota farmer and small business owner who met Nemcek a year ago when she treated him with homeopathic medicines. Mehl wants to see the land become a haven for boys and their fathers to connect on the farm, and where those who can’t afford homeopathy can be treated. He also wants the center to offer classes on sustainability, adding that with the rising costs of gas and food transportation, families will be more dependent on the family garden.
“People have to learn to provide for themselves,†said Mehl, who clearly remembers growing up during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. “My legacy is, what can I do?â€
Nemcek envisions an herb bed and more fruit trees in the front of the property, and a community garden in the back. With the help of board members and guest speakers, she also plans to offer weekly classes on organic gardening, efficient living, natural medicines, nutrition and meditation as well as starting a homeopathy school next fall.
She hopes that working on the farm will bring local people together. “It’s about building community,†she said.