“One of my patients told me that when he retires, I should take over his farm,” said Dr. Stefana Pecher, when she was asked how and why she started the Better Together Farm and Sanctuary on Route 2 in North Stonington.

Pecher is an M.D. who also runs the adjacent Country Wellness Center. She became the director of the non-profit farm in 2018. The facility was designed to provide nutritional security, physical, mental and spiritual healing with specialized therapies and activities that enhance one’s livelihood.

Dr. Pecher wanted to give back to the community and do more for both people and animals.

When the farm started it rescued four miniature horses from Pennsylvania.

Pecher explained, “They were malnourished and abused. It was touch and go when their recovery began. But the four ponies are healthy now.”

She grinned, “My veterinarian, however, thinks they’re kind of chubby. But we both agreed it’s not a bad thing for them to have extra insulation during the winter.”

The miniature horses keep themselves healthy prancing around the acres of pasture at the farm. Today the miniature horses give back to the sanctuary that saved them by providing therapy for veterans suffering from PTSD and other conditions.

The farm practices sustainable organic farming of hemp. This is a hemp lacking in THC but filled with CBD. It helps relieve pain, anxiety, insomnia and stress while increasing appetites when needed. CBD dog biscuits soothe painful joints. Candy, ointments and balms made with CBD oil help to relieve aches and pains in people.

The farm promotes and practices many other uses of the hemp plant. It can make rope, fabric and paper. (One acre of hemp produces as much paper as four acres of trees). It’s made into bricks for heating fuel that has as many or more BTUs as hardwood firewood.

Hemp’s quick regeneration is better for the environment. Hemp can replace plastic items such as eating utensils. It also benefits the environment by removing toxins and adding nutrients to the soil and reducing erosion. The farm uses three acres for growing hemp.

The farm also grows vegetables, flowers, herbs, cantelope and watermelon, Soon it will be harvesting strawberries and other fruit.

The farm makes jams, sauces, purees, pickles and more.Workers package everything themselves and can their own vegetables.

Recently a greenhouse was erected, and soon fresh produce will be available year round.

The non-profit farm is funded by private donations, government grants, all of its volunteers and from the revenue it brings in from its sales and the renting of its banquet hall for celebrations and other gatherings.

The farm donates its fruits, vegetables, products and therapies to veterans, seniors and the disabled. The farm is donating its banquet space for Wheeler High School’s 2022 graduation.

There are hiking trails and campsites with fire pits in the farm’s wooded section. The Shunock River runs through the woods where there’s access for canoes and kayaks.

Pecher said, “It’s amazing how much spending some time in the woods benefits your health physically and mentally.”

Therapies are offered in the Country Wellness Center that’s adjacent to the farm.

Pecher said, “It’s a center of excellence for holistic medicine in New England. We offer therapies that have unique machinery and devices that are not available elsewhere, especially all in one place as they are here. Patients from New York city to Boston and all over visit the center because of this.”

An apparatus called the salt pond contains salt water you submerge yourself in. The device is then closed for recommended therapy time of 45 minutes. It’s so relaxing the patient often falls asleep. But, when your time is up, you feel as if you’ve slept for eight hours.

Another is a booth you sit in that pumps salt air for you to breathe. In 15 minutes, one can receive the healthy benefits you would have received if you had been breathing clean ocean air for an entire day. This is good for sinus and allergy conditions.

The hypobaric oxygen chamber looks like a space capsule. When inside it inflates and forces oxygen, under pressure into your system that immediately dissolves in your plasma and continues to cleanse your system for the next few weeks making your skin glow.

The Country Wellness Center’s old and new therapy methods, some with hard-to-find devices, help its patients achieve a higher and healthier existence and are here for anyone who needs them. The Wellness Center gives a more spiritual but down to Earth form of healing to its patients.

By using organic and sustainable methods of farming. The Better Together Farm and Sanctuary provide fruit and vegetables to sustain a healthy and nourished society. It works towards a more sustainable existence.

The farm’s research and harvesting of its hemp crop will hopefully help to open the world’s eyes to the crop’s many beneficial properties.

“It’s the only Earth we have,” Dr. Pecher remarked with a light in her eyes.