Seeding Wellness - Growing Veterans
With Cody Call and Logan Hillgers
Caught and Woven By: Piper, Emily and Jane
Nestled in a quiet corner of Whatcom County, Growing Veterans is a nonprofit farm that serves as a healing space, classroom, and community hub. Founded in 2012 by Marine Corps veteran Christopher Brown and former mental health counselor Christina Wolf, the venture helps veterans reconnect with civilian life through farming. Their mission is built on a simple but powerful belief: connection is healing, press play to check out their story.
Keep Growing: a visit to Growing Veterans
Tucked into a quiet corner of Whatcom County, Growing Veterans is more than just a farm. It’s a healing space, a classroom, and a community hub all in one. Our team visited on a warm spring day, greeted by rows of beehive boxes, the sound of chickens clucking in their mobile coops, and a striking view of Mount Baker rising beyond the fields.
This nonprofit venture was founded in 2012 by Marine Corps veteran and Western student Christopher Brown, along with Christina Wolf, a former mental health counselor turned farmer. Their mission is rooted in one powerful idea: connection is healing. For veterans returning to civilian life, that connection often starts with the land.
Caption: Red-feathered hens roam in mobile chicken tractors, helping regenerate the soil while providing eggs for the community.
Growing Veterans addresses the intersection of several social and ecological challenges. Among them are: food insecurity (SDG 2), mental health (SDG 3), and land stewardship (SDG 15). The main activity on the land is hands-in-the-dirt farming. Volunteers are part of the whole process, from starting seeds to harvesting food. This serves as what the team calls “dirt therapy.” During the process veterans grow produce that is donated to those facing food insecurity in our region, foster positive connections with each other, and practice regenerative land stewardship.
Caption: Salad greens sprouting in the greenhouse, the start of over 4,000 pounds of produce grown each year for local food banks.
Veterans come here not just to work, but to heal, to find purpose, and to build community. Each week, volunteers and staff gather with coffee and snacks to check in with one another. Peer support is baked into the structure of the organization. It’s informal, accessible, and deeply relational. It’s not unusual for a Friday morning farm day to include a circle of veterans sharing how they’re doing and holding space for whatever someone is carrying that day.
Caption: Logan and Cody, Growing Veterans staff, sitting for our interview about the organization’s work and vision for the future.
In a culture where support for veterans often means bureaucracy or isolation, Growing Veterans offers something simpler and more profound: community through shared work. The staff themselves are veterans, many of whom originally came to the farm as participants of the program. They speak openly about PTSD, addiction, and the deep need to feel useful again in the context of community and friendship.
Caption: A mural on the side of the community farm center reads “Keep Growing,” surrounded by a red poppy, a symbol of resilience.
The farm donates 4,000 pounds of produce annually to local food banks. Executive Director Cody Call hopes to more than double that amount, aiming for 10,000 pounds within five years. The farm also harvests honey from on-site beehives and grows peppers for its signature hot sauce, Fire in the Hole. Volunteers take home produce as well, often harvested by folks pulling carrots from the ground for the first time in their lives.
Caption: Bees buzz around wooden hive boxes, the honey they make is used in Growing Veterans’ house-made hot sauce: Fire in the Hole.
One of the most moving parts of our visit was hearing about their accessibility project. They’re currently building ADA-accessible raised beds, pathways, and bathroom facilities so that aging and disabled veterans can fully participate. They're also restoring their large greenhouse to allow year-round growing and gathering to serve people better in the dark, isolating months of winter.
Caption: A quiet start with big potential: this freshly prepped garden is ready to start growing food for the community.
Growing Veterans is doing more than just addressing symptoms of disconnection or just addressing symptoms of food insecurity in isolation. This organization is creating a model of regenerative healing, where land, people, and purpose are all woven together. It’s not flashy. But it’s real, and it’s working.
Caption: Our team looking out across the fields, with Mount Baker rising in the background, a reminder of place, purpose, and what’s possible.