A TRIBUTE to OUR VETERAN FARMERS, PAST and FUTURE, for MEMORIAL DAY by Sheri Leigh Myers

My grandfather, Colonel Charles P. Hayward, was assigned to Japan after WWII, to help restore the farms of Japan’s defeated, starving people.  Once the mission was accomplished, Grandpa retired to his quiet, bountiful, one-acre garden in Vermont, and continued to serve his community by growing food.  Here's his photo.

Colonel CP Hayward at a Japanese Orphanage - 1947

For Memorial Day, I'm paying tribute to the military veterans I have loved and respected.  Along with Grandpa, I want to honor my Dad, (Army) Major Fred Myers, my father-in-law Howard Moore (USAAC) as well as my uncle, Navy man Stan White. I want to honor Ohio National Guard Doug Barber, who served in Iraq and made it back home, but couldn’t find his way back to peace.   Doug took his own life.  (The Army Times reports an average of 18 successful suicides a day, and about 10,000 calls a month to the VA’s suicide hotline.)

This is our light bulb moment. We can change this, and change America.

In our short film about Archi’s Acres and the VSAT program, you’ll see the numbers -  that our country needs a million new small farmer operators in the next ten years to replace the folks who retire.

How great would it be, to fill those depleted ranks with capable, hard-working, military veterans, who are looking for meaningful work in the private sector.  How perfect, if that work also offered a healing transition, out of the trauma of urban warfare.    Here are the testimonies of VSAT grads, eager to take on the daunting mission of establishing food security, on sustainable farms.  Healthy veterans, and a healthier America. 

Do you have a military veteran you’d like to honor?  Write a tribute to that person, and donate in his/her name to the VSAT program.  Send your tribute to karen@archisacres.com.  We’ll post it on our ‘Tribute” page.

The two statements below are from Veterans who need our financial help to take the course.  (There's a long list...) Please, to help spread the word, give what you can and share this site with people you know.  Support the Archipley’s vision of VSAT training centers and small veteran-run sustainable farms across our country.  Now, how great would that be?

Grandpa, Daddy, Uncle Stan and Doug, this is for you.  Thank you for your service. Please send your angels to help this program flourish!

Onward, with love and appreciation,

Sheri Leigh Myers

Writer AA/VSAT Support Team

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 A couple of testimonies from Veterans who want to do VSAT

Our vision for going through this program and moving forward with sustainable green agriculture is to launch a family owned business that will allow us to transition out of the United States Marine Corps with an avenue of income and a means to reach out to the communities by implementing the Archi's Acres program, here within the U.S. and Internationally. We have affiliations with several 501(c)3 organizations overseas, including women's rescue homes as well as children's orphanages, that will greatly benefit from the ability to sustain themselves both agriculturally and potentially financially with the solution Archi's Acres offers. Our heart for Semper Fi Ministries is multi-faceted, as we are "called to serve; serving where called", and this program is indefinitely a bridge for a gap we see all over the world, regarding starvation, hunger and finances. With Tyler's last week in the USMC as an active duty MP being the end of July, the course beginning June 13th allows him to fill his last six weeks in the corps, productively. His funding will be granted through TA, and as we discussed, funding for myself to take this course alongside him is where we are now in need of a solution. We appreciate your help and support, and are very excited to be a part of this opportunity. Please let us know what else we can be doing on our end to move forward.

Semper Fi,

Tyler Hollenbeck

Kelseylee Fleming-Hollenbeck

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Dear Karen Archipley,

While attending a career fair at Camp Pendleton a good friend and I stumbled upon your booth. Out of all the representation at the career fair, it was your booth that caught our attention the most. It was a simple yet unique concept, become a farmer, a profession I never thought about. I worked with a Marine, Matt Holzman, who attended VSAT and spoke highly of it. We had many discussions on hydroponics and that got me interested in aquaponics. Since then I have been researching and looking for all information related to aquaponics. I have come to find that aquaponics is a smart and viable solution to sustainable agriculture.

I have been looking for my next ideal career, one that I  could use my leadership, management, creativity, hard work ethic, and necessity to give back and teach to society, and believe that I have found it in the future of hydroponic/aquaponic agriculture. I have many plans and ideas for a sustainable business and look forward to learning more through the VSAT program.

Thank you,

Patrick Keplinger