By Shauna Johnson
HUNTINGTON — Over the hill from the Hershel “Woody” Williams VA Medical Center in Cabell County, near the end of a gravel path, two boxes of honeybees, mushrooms growing out of logs and the beginnings of an orchard represent a potential road to healing.
It’s cultivation that’s evidence of the VA FARMS agricultural vocational training and behavioral health care services pilot program, a partnership between the VA, the state Department of Agriculture and Marshall University, which begins its fourth cycle with veterans on Monday.
Each cycle at what is one of 10 pilot sites nationwide includes six weeks of classroom and hands-on instruction on site followed by an internship lasting at least two weeks with local agricultural producers.
“It goes beyond just teaching classes,” said Fran Burgess, VA project supervisor for VA FARMS, which stands for Veterans Affairs Farming and Recovery Mental Health Services.
“It goes to giving the veterans the skills and the ability to help take control of their own lives.”
Former U.S. Army Specialist Steve Miller, 34, an Iraq War veteran from Cabell County, was part of the third cycle of training, which included lessons in growing mushrooms, beekeeping, vegetable cultivation and tractor safety.
“As I’ve gotten into the program, it’s really opened up my thoughts to a lot of different things. It’s been very therapeutic working with the different areas,” he said.
One of his instructors, Lacy Davidson-Ferguson, planning coordinator for the southwest region of West Virginia for the state Department of Agriculture, taught a course on growing mushrooms from logs.
“We started with learning some of the background knowledge on how mushrooms are cultivated and then it’s been hands-on since then,” Davidson-Ferguson said.
When she’s not at the VA, she’s working with agribusinesses and brings that experience to VA FARMS.
“You can start on a really small scale and be profitable and, I think, this is a confidence-booster that, ‘Hey, I can do this. This isn’t over my head,’ ” she said.
“Growing mushrooms out of logs seems kind of complicated, but when you break it down into how nature works, it’s really simple and I think the guys have seen that it’s attainable.”
A high tunnel at the Huntington site includes space for rotating crops.
“This program is an opportunity to provide these veterans with possible new career opportunities in agriculture,” said Mary Dickerson, assistant director of veterans and business development for the state Department of Agriculture.
Miller was surprised to find he had an affinity for the bees.
“I had, initially, very little interest in the bees and honey,” Miller said. “All of the different areas that they’ve opened me up to has just really sparked my interests in a lot of things I really didn’t pay attention to before now.”
Miller is one of nine participants from western West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and Ohio who have completed the VA FARMS program at the Hershel “Woody” Williams VA Medical Center.
Current funding allows the pilot program to continue into the beginning of 2020 in Cabell County and Burgess said renewal for an additional year was recently approved through the Veterans Health Administration Office of Rural Health.
“We want to offer veterans something that we haven’t offered in the past, which is the ability to not only prepare for self-employment, but something that they could do as a hobby or something that they could simply use as a community integration activity,” Burgess said.
“It seems that everybody who comes in to the program has that ability to come in and be interested in everything we have to offer, but then really start developing a specific interest as they get their training.”
What’s happening can be called agrotherapy.
“The wide array of topic areas that we cover as well as the behavioral health component, it’s had such a positive impact on the participants,” Dickerson said.
For example, mindfulness is one of the topics those with Marshall University’s Department of Social Work have covered.
“There’s just something healing about being outdoors and not to mention the fact that it’s re-establishing that connection with where your food comes from that can help to alleviate a lot of our chronic health conditions,” Davidson-Ferguson said.
“In so many ways, this program is wonderful and should be replicated across the country for sure.”
The fifth cycle for VA FARMS begins in
September.
Burgess sees a lot of potential for growth.
She already plans to expand agricultural vocational training at the VA through the creation of a trail system and the cultivation of a full-size orchard with support from those involved in VA FARMS and other VA
programs.
“I think a lot of times what happens with veterans is that they think of the VA Medical Center as a place that you come and you get your health care and they don’t think of the other aspects of the services that we’re able to provide,” Burgess said.
“We’re really looking to address recovery and whole health and the ability to have veterans improve their lives in a number of fields.”
