Project GROW: How gardening helped a Veteran heal

Edward Beale found healing, connection and a reason to come out of his shell

For the past three years, Air Force Veteran Edward Beale has reaped what he’s sown, literally. Beale joined Project GROW, a five-week virtual gardening course with Atlanta VA Healthcare System’s (VAHCS) Whole Health team.

Being from Chicago, he knew nothing about gardening.

“I didn’t know anything about fertilizing. I didn’t know anything about growing from seeds, nothing. I was looking for whatever I could find to help me with my PTSD; you know I was looking for any type of relief,” he shared.

He was introduced to the Whole Health Gardening Group, led by Kelly Fripps, health promotion disease prevention program manager, and Charolette Hamilton, a diagnostic radiologic technologist. 

Project GROW teaches Veterans the mental health benefits of planting and growing food. Participants also benefit from the opportunity to connect with other people who enjoy gardening.

What he didn’t expect was to also grow closer to the others in Project GROW.

“They are still with me. I can e-mail them, send pictures or whatever, ask them a question,”  he said. “Even though I finished the classes, they did not just kick me to the curb. They’re steady with me. If I have a question, they’re gonna answer it.” 

Healing by learning 

Beale has grown several crops over the years, including tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, strawberries, watermelons, cantaloupe, string beans, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, red potatoes, collard greens, kale and spinach. 

“If I get triggered for something, I go down into the garden and start fiddling around; that just keeps me chill. Each year I’ve been learning different things, and it’s all coming off of the class, and it’s all by trial and error,” he said. “I tried different things, like this year I tried to grow corn. I didn’t get anything out of it, but I learned something. So, I don’t call that a loss. I don’t call that a failure. I found that to be a success because I learned from it.” 

In Beale’s opinion, PTSD hinders many from moving outside of their comfort zones. “We get into that hole, and we get comfortable being in that hole and don’t want to come out of it. Gardening helped me come out of that.” 

Sharing the growth 

Beale, who also worked 20 years with the Department of Homeland Security, shares the bounty with his community.

“A lot of the stuff that I grow I give away to my neighbors and my family. I don’t have much family here, but my neighbors, they can’t wait. I bring stuff in the house and it’s like, ‘OK, I can’t eat all of it,’ so I give it to the neighbors,” he said.

Beale said the gardening program helped bring him out of his shell, and he’s since joined a Veterans’ fishing organization, where he volunteers to take Veterans fishing. 

“Knowing that I can take the information that they provided me and I can now grow stuff from a seed and bear fruit, that in itself is therapeutic. It’s not for everybody and that’s why so many things are available and it’s so important that VA offers stuff like that in different varieties for the Veterans that have PTSD. I just happen to find it in gardening.” 

While digging is part of the gardening process, rising is just as important. 

“It allowed me to get to a place where I was able to, I should say, come out of my hole.”