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Collie Turner was inspired to create Heroic Gardens in honor of her grandfather, Joseph C. Stevens, who served in World War II. Turner said he was always happiest outside doing yardwork and gardening. (Nicole Leonard/WHYY)
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On a large grassy plot in the Holmesburg neighborhood of Philadelphia, about three dozen volunteers formed a huddle around Collie Turner.
To the side, gardening rakes of various sizes were lined up in the grass. A bucket was filled up with gardening gloves and a pile of plastic watering cans was at the ready.
“I want to be the first person to officially welcome you to the sunflower farm at Pennypack,” Turner told the group, who clapped and cheered.
Right now, the Pennypack Sunflower Farm is not much more than a flat patch of land and dirt that used to be military housing and then public housing before they were demolished over a decade ago.
Today, the plot has been prepared for planting and divided into narrow rows and lanes. In about a hundred days, the space will be filled with 12-foot-tall bright yellow sunflowers for the community to enjoy.
It’s part of a new urban agriculture project by Heroic Gardens, a Philly nonprofit that uses gardening and horticultural therapy to support military veterans and their mental health challenges with post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression and other issues.
“We can’t heal the person, but we can help them learn to heal themselves by transforming their land,” said Turner, the organization’s founder.
The therapeutic benefits of working in a garden can translate to the simplest of changes and improvements in a veteran’s life, she said.
“People lose weight, people get a haircut, people get jobs,” Turner said as she choked up with tears in her eyes. “It’s quite something.”
Organization leaders want the new sunflower farm to serve as a space for therapy and healing, community events and gardening training. With more funding, they hope to also make it a veterans workforce development initiative, which is a specific kind of employment program that helps veterans transition to civilian life and jobs.
“So, there’s one rule before we get started. Just have fun. That’s really it,” Turner told the volunteers. “So, here are the teams.”
As Turner rattled off names, people split into smaller groups, each responsible for different tasks.
Some were tasked to rake and level the soil for others to dig tiny, evenly spaced holes. Other volunteers would then plant sunflower seedlings, which were about two inches tall with two or three green leaves attached to a clump of soil and roots.
Local business owners and leaders, horticultural therapists, farming and gardening experts, and residents from around the neighborhood kneeled in the dirt with trowels and rulers.
There were also veterans, their families and their friends.
Turner isn’t a veteran herself, but she was inspired by one: her grandfather, Joseph C. Stevens, who was a medic in World War II. After serving, he bought a house in Somers Point, New Jersey, with an acre of backyard – big enough to grow a vegetable garden to help feed his family.
“He was my best friend,” Turner said. “He also, like many of the veterans here, just continued to give back after he served, no matter what ailment he had. He just continued to serve.”
Heroic Gardens gives other veterans the same opportunity, she said. They can volunteer while doing activities and learning skills that could help them manage or recover from mental health challenges and stressors.
U.S. Army veteran Michael Peterman led a group of volunteers, including his 16-year-old daughter, in planting seedlings. When Peterman left the military, he enrolled in local farmer training programs and soon found Heroic Gardens.
“I had to get up in the mornings over the winter when depression is stronger for me and I don’t want to take care of myself, but I can’t let the plants die,” he said. “So it’s like, I got to get up. And then it gets the process of the day started. It’s good for me, it’s good for the community, it’s good for everybody.”
Peterman said he tends to isolate and avoid large crowds, so being around other veterans in outdoor spaces, working on projects like the sunflower farm, has opened up new opportunities.
“I know from talking to some of the other veterans here, I can have a hard day and be like, ‘I was struggling yesterday, this week,’” he said. “Most of the time, I’m not talking to somebody for a solution, but when they say, ‘Me, too,’ I don’t feel as alone. That’s huge for me.”
On the far edge of the sunflower beds, veteran Michele Keyes worked with a crew to flatten and bury cardboard, which will decompose, enrich the soil and create better drainage for future planting.
Keyes served 20 years in the U.S. Navy before retiring and moving to South Jersey. At first, she didn’t think Heroic Gardens was for her.
“Listen, I kill plants,” she said with a laugh.
But over the years, Keyes found support and friendship in this community, especially as a single mother of three who knows all too well the struggles of leaving the military and returning to civilian life.
“When I did retire, there was no more structure, there’s no more ‘OK, I have to take care of everybody else,’ there was no more ‘mission first,’” she said. “And I fell apart.”
There’s a huge gap in resources and care for women veterans, Keyes said, including those like her who are survivors of sexual assault. She became a victim early in her career while on active duty abroad in Italy, she said.
Keyes has found Heroic Gardens to be a safe place to find empathy and understanding among people with similar lived experiences. As a licensed clinical social worker and volunteer, she’s in a place to offer that support and care back to fellow veterans.
“I can be a shoulder. I can be the person next to you in this environment jumping on cardboard, flattening it out,” she said. “Let’s have fun with where we are, and even if it’s just let me help you stay safe for today.”
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