Our Story
We are a couple steadily playing and working toward developing our private gardens for the therapeutic benefit of our community. Our journey began after a devastating dementia-care experience and the loss of Mary’s mom, Margaret, in 2008. This showed us how deeply needed accessible garden experiences are for those living with long-term illness and their care partners. With Karl’s gardening passion and Mary’s background in designing accessible, joyful experiences, we created seven wheelchair-accessible horticultural areas from 2009 to 2012: The Cut Flower Garden, Roses & Kitchen Garden, Orchard Avenue, Ornamental Tree & Shrub Garden, Raspberry Patch, Cedar Grove & Tunnel, and Koi Pond.
From April through October, we host weekend events for people with disabilities and their caregivers, including the monthly wheelchair-accessible “Sunday Stroll” and, on many Saturdays, the first U.S.-based “Memory Café in the Garden®.” To see upcoming events, please visit our: Events Calendar.
We are now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and continually expanding our mission and garden spaces for greater public access. To arrange a private “come and see” tour, please: Contact Us.
Mary, an interfaith chaplain since 2017, offers year-round spiritual-care support at our Caretaker’s Cottage. Individual sessions are available by appointment, and group support for younger caregivers (under 65) of those with memory loss is offered twice a month. All programs are free of charge (donations are gratefully accepted).
Mary also writes the Morning Report eco-spirituality blog and shares development updates. Her work in speaking, training, and retreat support for dementia caregivers can be found on marymacmissions.com.
Below is a brief development timeline since our journey began in 2009.
With heartfelt compassion,
~ Mary & Karl
Mary E. MacDonald and Karl R. Ackerman
Garden Creators & Caretakers
202 Haverhill Rd., Topsfield, MA, 01983
Do what you can,
with what you have,
where you are.
– Theodore Roosevelt
Our Development Timeline
Since 2009, we have worked with a survivor’s mission and heartfelt consciousness.
2020 – 2024: Recent Milestones
- 2024: Featured again at the Topsfield Fair, our Accessible Garden display highlighted our advocacy for accessible, therapeutic gardening spaces. We also collaborated with local media to produce videos showcasing the gardens’ wheelchair-accessible features.
- 2023: Hosted the “Welcome Spring Bonfire Party,” celebrating spring’s arrival with an inclusive community event.
- 2022: Presented our Accessible Garden display at the Topsfield Fair, sharing the therapeutic benefits of gardening for all abilities.
- 2021: Introduced the Garden RX program, offering open garden hours to foster therapeutic nature visits for everyone.
- 2020: Adapted several programs to virtual formats during the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring caregivers and individuals with memory changes could continue to connect.
2019, Spring
We celebrated 10 years of accessible garden-building. Mary led a Drum Play weekly program (Jan-Mar), and with community support (pavers and stone dust), we built the Broken Heart Patio and Lightning Bolt Trail. Volunteers supported our weekly “Get Dirty in the Garden” program. For the first time, we offered “Smell the Lilacs/Roses/Lilies” experiences during select afternoons. We also partnered with the Topsfield Council on Aging and Topsfield Library to offer the winter Memory Café.
2018, Spring
Our four key programs continued: Year-round Individual and Group Support for caregivers, and Seasonal Sunday Strolls and Memory Café in the Garden®. We expanded the accessible MargFMac Front Garden Loop. With MA DDS and Topsfield Cultural Council support, we ran the winter Memory Café program in collaboration with the Council on Aging and Trinity Church.
2017, Spring
We published our first Rest.Stop.Ranch programs brochure. Our four key programs launched, including the Memory Café in the Garden®, supported by MA DDS and the Topsfield Cultural Council.
2015-2016: Expanding Programs and Partnerships
We expanded our Sunday Strolls to include the Memory Café for neighbors with memory changes and their care partners. With seed funding from MA DDS, our outdoor Memory Café, the first in the USA, was recognized in the book “The Alzheimer’s and Dementia Memory Café.”
2010-2014: Foundational Years
During this period, we developed the accessible MargFMac Front Garden Loop, launched seasonal programs like Sunday Strolls, and established online resources like the “Me Moments Collection” and “Rest.Stop.Weekly” podcasts. The website rest-stop-ranch.org relaunched in 2014 with a focus on accessible gardens for the greater community.
Our Inspiration: Caregiving Mary’s Parents Through End-of-Life
A Man Who Needed a New Heart: Joe MacDonald
Joe, Mary’s father, struggled with end-stage diabetes and heart disease, limiting his mobility and necessitating wheelchair access. In 2010, we installed a home-access trail to accommodate his needs, which he used until his passing in May 2013.
A Woman with a Giving Heart: Margaret Fraser MacDonald
Mary’s mother, Margaret, passed away in 2008 after a battle with frontotemporal degeneration. Her use of a wheelchair in her final months highlighted the need for accessible outdoor spaces, which inspired us to create a new approach to garden accessibility.