Horticultural therapy for war veterans.

Adam Burke is a man with a mission, to help war veterans returning to the United States after tours abroad, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, that have struggled to reintegrate with society. This may be due to PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder), physical injuries, such as disability, or a sense of a loss of purpose after the harried action of a war zone.

Burke himself is an Iraq veteran and injuries sustained during his time there have left him reliant on the use of a cane. He received a Purple Heart for surviving the mortar attack, but with his role in the army complete he needed something else to keep him occupied and going back to his farming roots seemed the obvious choice.

Adam Burke was raised on a blueberry farm in Sumpter County, Florida. He thought that, since getting back in touch with the land had helped him, it might help other veterans as well. He teamed up with the Farmer-Veteran Coalition and other not-for-profit groups to raise money and buy 8 acres of land in Jacksonville that he plans to turn into his second Veterans Farm.

The first Veterans Farm, which was also established with the help of the Farmer-Veteran Coalition, is in Webster, Sumpter County and its 2.5 acres provide work and a living for six veterans who have permanent work there. In addition to earning a living and having a purpose, the veterans also heal and learn to cope with their injuries or disabilities.

“It is horticultural therapy for veterans,” said Burke in a May telephone interview with Jacksonville news provider, Jacksonville.com.

These two farms established by Burke are the only two of their kind in Florida and the Veteran Farm being developed in Jacksonville will fill a definite need for the city.

In large cities like Jacksonville, clinics and support centers run by the military to help army veterans are overwhelmed, around 36,000 soldiers were badly injured in 2009 and around 20% of them suffered serious brain or spinal cord injuries, a further 30% suffer extreme PTSD.

It can take two to three months to see a psychologist or psychiatrist and some veterans, having survived a war zone, end up taking their life in despair as they become lost in an overwhelmed system.

Domestic violence, alcohol consumption and other ills have all increased in some military families since the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Once I got on the farm and started working, I knew the healing effects and I knew I had to share it with others,” Burke said of his experience with the first Veterans Farm, which is what led him to believe other veterans might experience the same effect.

“When I brought them on the farm, it was amazing the turnaround they had mentally and physically,” he said of the handful of veterans who now earn a living on the first farm.

Burke’s ideology is one shared by the Farmer-Veteran Coalition, a group involved in finding agricultural jobs in which returning veterans can earn a living, acquire new training and gradually heal from the effects of war.

As the statistics show, the job is a staggering one and they need help. Anyone in Jacksonville who is in a position to lend their manpower should contact Adam Burke through his website: http://veteransfarm.giving.officelive.com/default.aspx

Volunteers are needed to help clean up the 8.5 acres of land, removing garbage and disused equipment in order to clear the land for a blueberry ranch, which Adam hopes will be ready by summer. The community response has already been impressive with some equipment and a tractor already donated to the project. A further $49,000 is needed to rebuild the barn and construct a packing shed (Picture courtesy Veterans Farm website).