Veterans find peace working on San Diego-area farm

By JACOB ADELMAN
Associated Press Writer

VALLEY CENTER, Calif. (AP) - When Carlos Rivera returned from fighting
in Iraq and found work as an electrician, he felt co-workers who knew
about his military experience were gawking at him. He went home angry
each day. That's not a problem at his current job working alongside
other combat veterans picking avocados, mixing organic fertilizers and
gathering basil amid northern San Diego County's undulating ochre
hills. "I'm outdoors, not stuck inside somewhere feeling suffocated,"
said Rivera, 25, who returned from Iraq in 2007 after four years as a
Marine. "There's always someone to talk to, someone there to
understand." Rivera works at Archi's Acres, a 3-acre high-tech organic
farm owned by Colin Archipley, who served three tours in Iraq and is
trying to help other combat vets shake the trauma of war by turning
swords to plowshares. Working the earth has long been recognized as
good therapy for war veterans. About 20 U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs centers have gardening programs, said Anthony Campinell, the
VA's national director for work therapy programs. He said Archi's
Acres is the only fully commercial enterprise of which he was aware.
Veterans have grown fruits, vegetables and flowers on a 12-acre parcel
at the VA hospital in west Los Angeles since 1986. They sold their
produce at farmers markets until April, when administrators had them
take a break while they work out a deal for a nonprofit group to take
over the commercial parts of that program.

Patients at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center near Newark, N.J.,
meanwhile, work in a 2-year-old garden harvesting corn, rhubarb and
collard greens, some of which are served at the hospital's cafe. "How
much better can one feel about themselves than if you can make a meal
out of things that you grew?" said UCLA psychiatry professor C. Scott
Saunders, who specializes in treating post-traumatic stress disorder
among combat veterans. Archipley, 28, whose unit took part in the
initial invasion of Iraq and the later decisive battles in Fallujah
and Haditha, returned from battle in 2006 too agitated to pursue plans
to sell houses. Instead, he decided to try his hand at farming,
despite having no background in agriculture. He and his wife Karen
started with the 200 avocado trees left on the property they bought
while he was still a Marine sergeant. Realizing the trees were not
enough to sustain a business, the Archipleys added herbs and leafy
greens grown using hydroponics, a method of cultivating plants without
soil that requires less water and land than traditional farming. The
balmy air in Archipley's sunlit greenhouse is thick with the aroma of
basil, bunches of which poke through holes in long plastic tubes
arranged in vertical rows. Thin streams of water enriched with a
potent "compost tea" run silently along the bottoms of the tubes.
Wrinkled leaves of chard and deep-green lettuces sprout outside the
greenhouse. Archipley said he knew other vets would be solid employees
and they would benefit from the distraction provided by steady,
regimented labor, just as he had. "When our hands stop working and our
minds start running, that's when bad things start to happen. So we
keep the work load heavy. We stay busy," he said. "For me, if I slow
down, if I stop doing what I'm focussed on, that's when I can get
myself in trouble." Archipley said he thinks his workers are soothed
by the farm's rural atmosphere, since the noise and pace of city life
might remind them of the urban battle zones where many fought. Jeffery
Scanlon, who places veterans at Archi's Acres as manager of the VA's
work therapy programs in San Diego, said working with plants appears
to help war-rattled vets regain their self-confidence. "The plants
aren't talking back to them," he said. "You feel more in touch with
something that doesn't give you what we would consider negative
feedback." Archipley pays a fee to the VA to cover salaries and
placement program expenses. The VA takes care of the workers'
insurance, health care and other costs. Archipley's staff has grown
from two to eight since he began hiring the veterans, and he recently
bought an adjacent three-acre parcel where he plans more greenhouses
and outdoor growing facilities.

The farm's growth is being sustained by demand for its products, which
are sold at area Whole Foods outlets, other grocery stores and
farmers' markets. Scanlon said he has spoken with VA administrators
about replicating the collaboration with the farm in other parts of
the country.

The emphasis on greenhouse cultivation makes it a model for areas too
cold for year-round field farming, he said.

Campinell said he's open to that idea, but his department would need
to find other hydroponic farms that want to hire veterans, since the
VA doesn't set up new businesses. The veterans at Archipley's
operation, meanwhile, appear grateful for the opportunity to put down
their own roots in civilian life. "This type of work, gardening,
getting your hands in the mix, it all helps," said Anthony Licon,
whose 21 years in Army and Marines special operations forces took him
to trouble spots in the Middle East, Central America and other
locations. Rivera said talking with customers at farmers markets has
helped him the most. "I'm dealing with people and looking them in the
eye and learning how to be happy around people," he said. "The other
jobs I had, I used to just go home and be angry," he continued. "Now I
actually look forward to work." ___

On The Net: Archi's Acres: http://www.archisacres.com

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