This article has been edited since it first appeared in print.
Natasha Crawford at Healing Hope Urban Gardens (Photo by Jay Paul)
Natasha Crawford has been growing food all her life.
“I’ve always wanted to get into agriculture,” says Crawford, founder of Healing Hope Urban Gardens in Petersburg. “My great-grandmother grew up on a farm in Georgia, and I remember being in her garden and learning about how to eat healthy as a very young child.”
Even when she was on the move, serving in the Army from 2001 until 2009, Crawford found a way to cultivate life in clay pots and container gardens. “Gardening has always been a place where I can go and reconnect to myself,” she says.
For many veterans and active service members, seeking out a source of reconnection can be difficult when making the transition back to civilian life. Recreational therapist Andrea Cooper works with active-duty special operations personnel through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Servicemember Transitional Advanced Rehabilitation (aka STAR) Program.
“I try to incorporate local recreational and leisure-based interventions as part of their treatment plans,” Cooper says.
These activities are often physical in nature, ranging from kayaking to archery, but the most popular community outing: a cooking class led by chef Lawrence Dijoseph at longstanding culinary school Mise En Place in Shockoe Slip. “It has been the most re-requested experience that we do,” Cooper says. “It never fails.”
Two years ago, Mise En Place owner Christine Wansleben approached Dijoseph and asked if he’d be interested in leading a monthly class with special ops members. “I said, ‘Are you kidding me? Of course!’” Dijoseph recalls.
Cooper says getting participants “out of their comfort zone” has been invaluable and has allowed them to find a new sense of purpose, whether they’re home for good or taking a temporary break from active duty.
“They go home, and they cook, and they bring the kids into the kitchen,” Cooper says. “That family connectedness piece is so important for them.”
A veteran chef, Dijoseph worked for more than three decades in high-intensity professional kitchens from Washington, D.C., to New York City before becoming a full-time culinary instructor. But he admits he was nervous for the first class, feeling a pressure to perform in front of nine career officers. He soon realized, however, that the group was not only ready and excited to learn a new skill — they were model students.
“Cooking is totally focused,” Dijoseph says. “These guys are obviously great at multitasking; they have a high attention to detail and process instructions so well — they make rock-star chefs.”
Crawford has also found that certain passions, whether newly discovered or deeply rooted, can become blissful preoccupations. “I’m a disabled Iraq War vet,” she says. “I do suffer from mental health issues related to my service. When I’m out here farming, that is the only thing I’m thinking about. It’s now my mission, my purpose.”
Crawford says that when she and her wife relocated to Richmond from New York in 2017, she was drawn in by Central Virginia’s urban agriculture scene. She connected with Mark Davis of Real Roots Food Systems, who provided mentorship and land that allowed Crawford to start Healing Hope Urban Gardens in 2021.
In March of this year, Crawford signed a lease for a plot at Petersburg Oasis Community Farm. She has already had a number of newly separated military members come out to volunteer at Healing Hope, and she says the goal is to hire a veteran as a full-time assistant in the coming years.
“I’m providing a service to my local community; I’m still helping people,” Crawford says of her transition from Army to farm. “I want to be able to share the joys and benefits I have gotten from farming with other veterans.”
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