Are you a veteran looking for your next act?
Not so sure cubicle life is for you?
Want a new way of life that is meaningful, challenging, and rewarding?
Ever thought about farming?
The nation needs you. We are facing a slow-moving crisis in agriculture. The USDA estimates that over the next 20 years we are going to need 700,000 new farmers to replace those aging out of the profession.
Farming is one of the hardest, most important jobs in the civilian economy.
It requires mental and physical toughness. Grit. Discipline. Mental agility. The ability to plan, adapt, and overcome obstacles.
It's not just a career – it's a calling.
Sound familiar?
No experience, no land, and not much time? No problem.
Apply to join Arcadia's 2017 Veteran Farmer Reserve!
https://goo.gl/forms/3xl8ymeTqZ6ZCXm53
We meet one weekend a month at Arcadia Farm, 14 miles south of Washington, D.C., just outside the gates of Fort Belvoir, for intensive cultivation and business training to prepare you for a new career in agriculture. You'll get expert instruction from working farmers, piles of interesting, vetted farming books, hands-on training on our sustainable vegetable farm just outside of Washington, D.C. Heck, we'll even teach you to drive a tractor (and give you plenty of opportunities to run it)!
You will work alongside other veteran farm trainees who speak your language and share your experiences, drive, and discipline, on land that George Washington himself cultivated. And you'll visit, work on, and tour successful farms in the region to learn from people who are actually making a living in agriculture. Big farms, small, veggie and livestock; hydroponic greenhouses and tiny urban farms – we do it all. Plus accounting, legal, and marketing training to make sure that you not only know how to grow food but how to have a successful business operation as well.
You will get real-life experience in farming, and you will be able to know whether this field is right for you – before you buy land.
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| planting potatoes at Hilltop Farm at Arcadia |
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| Woodlawn Mansion, a National Trust for Historic Preservation site, is home to our farm and training classroom. |
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| Zeek and Erica, both Army vets, learn how to transplant seedlings. |
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| Most weekends include a one-day field trip visiting 2 or more successful local farms. Here we are at Mountview and Moutoux, helping to seed the 2016 crop, and learning how a whole-diet CSA works. |
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| We visited Cibola Farms for a great discussion about raising bison (and how military surplus CHUs can really help a farm out). We later visited Bright Farms, a massive hydroponic greenhouse run by an Afghan war vet. |
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| Mission Continues is one of our partners, and gifted us with a greenhouse kit and 60 volunteers to get it built in one day (more or less). |
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| A winter visit to a year-round farm in Fairfax, Whitehall – also run by a veteran. |
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| Our trainees get hands on experience on our farm. Here, Marine vet Tor, preps drip tape for irrigation. |
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| Veteran Farm Fellow Laron and Reservist Ally (also a Mission Continues Fellow) enjoy a dinner thrown in their honor at Arcadia farm. |
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| Our tractor! And Virginia's Secretary of Veteran Affairs John Harvey – a great friend to the program who helped us raise funds for it! |
You will get real-life experience in farming, and you will be able to know whether this field is right for you – before you buy land.
Fill out an application, and find out if farming is for you!
Anticipated 2017 Dates (please be available for both days, every weekend):
Jan. 28/29
Feb. 25/26
March 25/26
April 29/30
May 20/21
June 24/25
July 29/30
Aug 26/27
Sept 23/24
Oct 28/29
Nov 18/19
December 16/17
Jan. 28/29
Feb. 25/26
March 25/26
April 29/30
May 20/21
June 24/25
July 29/30
Aug 26/27
Sept 23/24
Oct 28/29
Nov 18/19
December 16/17
With gratitude to our sponsors who make the 2017 Veteran Farmer Program possible:
Boeing
Grace Communications Foundation
Prince Charitable Trusts
Neighborhood Restaurant Group
ClearedJobs.Net
Grace Communications Foundation
Prince Charitable Trusts
Neighborhood Restaurant Group
ClearedJobs.Net
