In December 2016, “Bellingham Alive” published a story about Growing Veterans (GV), a Whatcom-based organization that was being nationally recognized for its powerful veteran-focused agrotherapy program.
Veterans often struggle with anxiety, depression, PTSD, social isolation, and long-term injuries when they return from duty. Growing Veterans creates an environment where they work shoulder-to-shoulder with other veterans and civilians to farm food that then goes back into their communities through sales and donations. By doing so, barriers are broken down, and connections are made. GV also facilitates peer support training and groups.
Photograph courtesy of Growing Veterans
It was co-founded around 2012–2013 by United States Marine Corps veteran Christopher Brown and “mental health counselor-turned-farmer” Christina Wolf. By 2016, GV had achieved nonprofit status, organic certification, and had three sites where veterans could voluntarily farm (one each in Lynden, Mount Vernon, and Auburn).
Current Executive Director Cody Call chatted with us in April 2026 about how things have changed in the past 10 years, GV’s reinvigorated focus on community, and his hopes for the future.
Photograph courtesy of Growing Veterans
Getting Up to Speed
After our 2016 article was published, GV continued growing. Their Peer Support Training program received accolades and was accredited by the Washington Mental Health Counselors Association. They developed their internship program. They opened a farm outpost on Whidbey Island. They continued to receive regular news coverage.
But when the COVID-19 pandemic came, it hit Growing Veterans hard.
“I think that COVID really took the wind out of the sails because people weren’t really able to come out,” Call says. “It really disrupted what was going on.”
The Mount Vernon and Auburn farms have both closed over the years, and recently, so did their outpost on Whidbey. Call says it was successful at attracting active duty folks from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.
“The reason I had to shut that down in 2025 was mainly because we had…a federal grant that somehow got labeled under DEI. So when they canceled all those grants, that one got canceled,” says Call. “We had one person running that other site, it was a part-time position, but once we didn’t have the funds, I couldn’t justify keeping that farm.”
Photograph courtesy of Growing Veterans
Their internship program has been similarly affected.
“The Veteran Conservation Corp, we’ve been having interns through that program, but that also lost funding. Hopefully, we’re going to get more funding this summer to continue that internship program,” says Call. They remain an active VA Work Study site, through which they can offer paid skill-building positions to veteran students.
Now, Growing Veterans is down to just two paid positions: Call as Executive Director and Thomas Masi as Farm Manager.
“It’s hard changing the organization and changing who’s working there,” says Call. “But I think that with two people right now, we’re able to reduce our overhead [in order] to sustain the missions that we have right now and the programs that we have, the dirt therapy and the peer support.”
Over the past few years, they’ve refocused on spreading the word that Growing Veterans isn’t a “veterans only” club. The previous Interim Executive Director, Logan Hilgers, played a big role in that push, tabling at events and letting people know about their peer support meetings, Coffee Check-Ins, which happen every Friday morning.
Photograph courtesy of Growing Veterans
“What we’re really trying to do is shift gears a little bit,” says Call. “This is not only for veterans. This is for anyone who wants to build community. Anyone who’s struggling, anyone who’s feeling isolated, this place is for you…I want it to be a community center. So even if you don’t want to farm, but you need community, feel free to come out on Fridays.”
After all, reducing social isolation for veterans means increasing community connections for everybody. Everyone can benefit from the organization’s dual missions: mental health support and growing food for the community.
“We’re like two nonprofits in one, really,” he says. “ One aspect is working on mental health through regenerative agriculture and building that community and that space. And then the other side of it is…building purpose, because they know that the work that they’re doing is going to help benefit families in Whatcom County that are really struggling.”
Photograph courtesy of Growing Veterans
Current Programs and Hopes for the Future
Growing Veterans grows USDA-certified organic produce like broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, leafy greens, and more. They are close to maxing out the grow space on their Lynden farm, something Call said was a goal of his when he came on.
“In 2024, we donated 1,400 pounds to the food bank. In 2025, we donated 6,200 pounds … [That’s] over 5000 meals equivalent that we were able to provide to Whatcom County families,” says Call. “In 2024, about 400 people came onto the farm, and then in 2025, we were almost at 800. So, we almost doubled it in a year just from trying to do the outreach and really making the community and peer support a priority … By doing that, it’s made a synergistic effect where we just keep having more and more people want to come onto the farm. So, I expect to have over a thousand people on the farm this year.”
Photograph courtesy of Growing Veterans
While they prefer to donate, Growing Veterans occasionally sells some produce to help cover funding. They also have a partnership with local hot sauce business El Fuego to produce their very own hot sauce, Fire in the Hole. It’s made with GV-grown jalapenos, serranos, garlic, and honey from their apiary.
Growing Veterans has been hard at work creating other community partnerships. They’re a part of the Seattle Seahawks’ Task Force 12; Woods Coffee provides the joe for their Coffee Check-Ins; Texas Roadhouse supports them with their Dine to Donate nights; Burlington-based Scratch and Peck Feed donates feed for their chickens; and the list goes on. One of their newest partnerships is with Ballistic Brew, a Whatcom County traveling coffee truck. You can purchase GV’s Fire in the Hole sauce and their special Zero Dark Thirty dark roast coffee beans at Ballistic Brew, and 100% of the proceeds will go directly to Growing Veterans.
Photograph courtesy of Growing Veterans
Call’s goals for the future of Growing Veterans are to become financially stable, to be open for activities year-round, bring on a third employee (a community outreach coordinator), and to possibly own land—they’ve rented the Lynden farmland since the beginning.
If you’d like to give dirt therapy a shot, you can come out and volunteer on the farm on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday mornings. Check out growingveterans.org to learn more about what they do and how to get involved. 6458 Martin Pl., Lynden, growingveterans.org
