Nos Pilifs Farm

Nos Pilifs Farm is a Belgian nonprofit social enterprise and community farm in Neder-Over-Heembeek, in the northern part of Brussels. Established in 1984, it was created to address the shortage of meaningful employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The farm combines commercial, educational, ecological and social activities, employing disabled workers in a range of practical roles while serving residents, schools and visitors in the surrounding area. The farm developed from a wider Nos Pilifs initiative founded by Nelly Seiler Filipson. In 1971, Filipson established a rehabilitation centre in Laeken for children with intellectual disabilities, drawing on her personal experience and concern for the lack of suitable support. The name Nos Pilifs was formed from an anagram of her name. As children and young people connected with the centre grew older, additional organizations were established to provide recreation, employment, housing, education and day support. The farm became one of the most prominent parts of this network. Nos Pilifs Farm is recognized as an adapted-work enterprise by the French Community Commission of Brussels, commonly known as Cocof. Its stated social model places disabled people in real work settings and emphasizes their contribution to the local community rather than treating them only as recipients of care. The organization reports that approximately 140 of its 180 employees are disabled. Work is organized across several teams and activities, enabling employees to participate in gardening, horticulture, retail, food handling, animal care, maintenance and related services. The site covers approximately 12 acres and includes an animal park, a garden centre, cultivated plots, a grocery shop, a brewery and a workshop that prepares and packages organic dry foods. Eight gardening teams also provide services outside the farm. These activities give the organization multiple sources of earned income while creating varied work environments for employees with different abilities and support needs. The farm also has an educational and public-facing role. Children can visit during school holidays, and schools can arrange field trips throughout the year. Visitors encounter animals, plants, gardens, food products and demonstrations of practical work, allowing the farm to present disability inclusion as a normal part of neighborhood life. Its ecological orientation is expressed through horticulture, organic food preparation, sustainable construction and the management of a multi-use green site. Nos Pilifs Farm operates within a broader family of private nonprofit organizations that share a philosophy of accepting difference and promoting inclusion. The network includes the original Nos Pilifs centre for specialized pre-primary and primary education, a leisure club created in 1980, Maison Nos Pilifs for accommodation and support established in 1985, Le Potelier des Pilifs day centre founded in 1989, Ados Pilifs secondary education for autistic pupils established in 2011, and Villa Pilifs, a hostel opened in 2015. The farm itself remains the network's principal work-integration and public community facility. Its identity is therefore based less on conventional consumer branding than on the integration of employment, disability support, environmental stewardship, education and local services.

Nos Pilifs Farm emerged from a Brussels disability-support initiative founded by Nelly Seiler Filipson. In 1971, Filipson created a rehabilitation centre in Laeken for children with intellectual disabilities. The centre provided specialized support and continued to serve children through early education and multidisciplinary care. Its name, Nos Pilifs, was created from an anagram of Filipson's name. The development of the original centre generated a need for services that could support children and young people beyond rehabilitation and schooling. A leisure club was created in 1980. In 1984, Filipson and Benoit Ceysens established La Ferme Nos Pilifs as a company designed to employ people with disabilities. The farm responded specifically to a shortage of employment opportunities in the northern part of Brussels. Rather than separating social support from productive work, the project used farming and related activities as a setting in which disabled people could perform recognized jobs and participate visibly in community life. A residence and support organization, Maison Nos Pilifs, followed in 1985. Le Potelier des Pilifs, a day centre, was established in 1989. The network later expanded its educational provision with Ados Pilifs, a secondary school for autistic children, in 2011, and added Villa Pilifs, a hostel, in 2015. These organizations remained separate private nonprofit entities but shared an institutional philosophy centered on acceptance of difference, practical support and inclusion. The farm developed into a multi-purpose social and ecological enterprise on a site of approximately 12 acres in Neder-Over-Heembeek. Its activities include an animal park, horticultural plots, a garden centre, a grocery shop, a brewery and a workshop for conditioning organic dry foods. External gardening work is carried out by eight teams. The range of activities allows the organization to offer different kinds of work and to combine employment with retail, food production, environmental management and public education. The organization became recognized as an adapted-work enterprise by the French Community Commission of Brussels. This status reflects its role as an employer whose workplace and support structures are adapted to disabled employees. The farm reports a workforce of around 180 people, approximately 140 of whom are disabled. Its employment model is central to its public identity: visitors and customers encounter employees carrying out useful work across the site and in services delivered to other clients. Nos Pilifs Farm also operates as an educational destination. Schools can arrange visits, and children can attend during school breaks. The combination of animals, gardens, food production and practical work gives the farm a platform for environmental learning and for demonstrating inclusive employment. Its sustainability profile has been reinforced by recognition for its social and ecological approach, including a 2011 Grand Prix des Générations Futures and attention to an exemplary sustainable building used for handling and conditioning work. The farm's history is consequently tied to the broader evolution of the Nos Pilifs network. It is not simply an agricultural attraction or a conventional garden retailer; it is a work-integration enterprise whose commercial activities support a wider disability-inclusion mission. The organization continues to operate in Brussels with farming, horticulture, retail, food preparation, gardening services and educational visits as mutually reinforcing parts of its model.

• 2015

  Villa Pilifs opened

  [1]Nos Pilifs Farmen.wikipedia.org

  The broader network expanded its accommodation-related services with Villa Pilifs.

• 2011

  Ados Pilifs established and sustainability recognition received

  [1]Nos Pilifs Farmen.wikipedia.org

  The network opened a secondary school for autistic children, while the farm received the Grand Prix des Générations Futures and was cited for an exemplary sustainable building.

• 1989

  Le Potelier des Pilifs opened

  [1]Nos Pilifs Farmen.wikipedia.org

  A day centre was created as another specialized service within the Nos Pilifs network.

• 1985

  Maison Nos Pilifs established

  [1]Nos Pilifs Farmen.wikipedia.org

  The wider network added accommodation and support services for people with disabilities.

• 1984

  Nos Pilifs Farm founded

  [1]Nos Pilifs Farmen.wikipedia.org

  Nelly Seiler Filipson and Benoit Ceysens created the farm as an enterprise employing people with disabilities in northern Brussels.

• 1980

  Leisure club established

  [1]Nos Pilifs Farmen.wikipedia.org

  A leisure club was added to broaden support for people connected with the original centre.

• 1971

  Founding of the Nos Pilifs rehabilitation centre

  [1]Nos Pilifs Farmen.wikipedia.org

  Nelly Seiler Filipson established a rehabilitation centre in Laeken for children with intellectual disabilities, creating the institutional foundation from which the later Nos Pilifs network developed.

An inclusive Belgian social enterprise that uses farming, horticulture, retail, food preparation and education to create recognized employment for people with disabilities while promoting ecological and community values.

• Horticulture

  Garden centre and horticultural products

  The farm operates a garden centre and maintains several cultivated plots. These activities provide plants and horticultural work while creating supported employment in growing, maintenance, customer service and related tasks.

• Food products

  Organic dry-food products

  A dedicated workshop conditions and packages organic dry foods. The activity extends the farm's employment model beyond horticulture into food handling, preparation and packaging.

• Professional services

  Gardening services

  Eight gardening teams provide horticultural and garden-maintenance services outside the farm. The service operation gives employees opportunities to work for clients in the wider Brussels community.

• Education and visitor services

  Educational farm visits

  Schools and other visitors can use the farm as an educational destination. Visits connect children with animals, plants, food production, ecological practices and the everyday work of an inclusive enterprise.

• Visitor attraction

  Animal park

  The animal park is one of the farm's public-facing facilities. Together with the gardens and other site activities, it helps make the organization a community destination as well as a workplace.

• 2007Social Christmas event

  Brussels

  A charity-oriented Christmas event reported in the Belgian press showcased the farm's community role and helped direct public attention toward its social mission.

  Outcome. The event generated charitable and community engagement; the available reference does not provide a quantified result.

  Source

1. 1Nos Pilifs Farmen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Nos Pilifs Farm official websitefermenospilifs.be