California AgrAbility staff met Martin at a health fair hosted by a community library. Martin was helping his wife who was working a booth providing information on mental health support services. It was at this event that California AgrAbility connected with Martin, and quickly saw how his positive spirit shined. As the event came to a close, Martin helped AgrAbility staff take down their booth and asked about the program and its services. Martin was excited to learn about AgrAbility.
He shared that on his ranch he was raising goats for meat and chickens for eggs to sell to small niche markets in his community. Martin also spoke of his challenges maintaining strength since being diagnosed with cancer. Losing strength was what Martin described as his main challenge around the farm. AgrAbility staff conducted an assessment following Martin for a day on his farm as he carried hay for the goats and water for the chickens to multiple feed stations. To help with these tasks that require strength and endurance, staff connected him with an automatic chicken waterer. Next staff assessed as Martin broke down bales of hay to lighter loads to transport more easily. Staff recommended using meat claws to ease the work of breaking down the hay bale.