Taylor Drew | Forever West Farms

Taylor is a graduate from our 2017 Denver Botanic Gardens class and our business planning class. 

Chef Taylor Drew was not a trained farmer when he and a friend opened the doors to  LoHi SteakBar in Denver Colorado.  After attending a Veterans to Farmers course in 2017, Taylor decided to turn his dream into reality and began looking for land to start his farm. In 2018, Taylor co-founded Forever West Farms in Brighton, Colorado. Forever West is a 10-acre Market Farm that grows 25 varieties of Heirloom Vegetables as well as 25 different Heritage Grains, and high quality, sustainably raised meats.  The produce grown are used in many dishes served at LoHi SteakBar and are picked fresh for use in farm-to-table dinners that Chef Taylor prepares. Much of the produce is also for purchase in the market at LoHi Local and the Arvada Farmers Market. In 2019 Taylor also joined the VTF board to give back to his fellow veterans.  He may be the hardest working guy we know.

Wyatt Brown | Graduate Student, Plant Science SDSU

Wyatt is a graduate of both our 2016 greenhouse class and our Denver Botanic Gardens Class. 

After 7 years of active service as a captain in the U.S. Army and many deployments and accommodations, Wyatt decided to return to civilian life to spend more time with his growing family.  In 2016 Wyatt began searching for something to replace the military career he left behind and came across Veterans to Farmers.  After completing the VTF programs in 2016,  Wyatt decided to return to college in the fall of 2017 and pursue an undergraduate degree in horticulture. Wyatt attended  South Dakota State University to further his newfound passion and graduated in December of 2019.  Wyatt is now in graduate school as a graduate research assistant and pursuing a degree in plant science with a focus on precision agriculture.  Wyatt hopes to recreate a Veterans to Farmers Program in SD for his community. 

Read about Wyatt here - https://www.sdstate.edu/news/2020/08/combat-classroom 

Zephrine Hanson | Hampden Farms

Zephrine is a graduate from our 2017 Denver Botanic Gardens class and our business planning class. 

Zephrine left the U.S. Air force as a photojournalist. Throughout her military service, Zephrine photographed triumph and tragedy, both leaving their lifelong mark with her. In 2016, the Hanson’s family packed up and moved to Denver, CO to create a life and space that was conducive to their 3 autistic children’s needs.  In 2017 Zephrine attended the Veterans to Farmers Course at Denver Botanic Gardens, hoping to learn how to grow healthy food for her family.  These opportunities allowed her to explore, understand, and act on her passions for sustainable living, homeschooling, and entrepreneurship. Through Hampden Farms, Zephrine continued collaborations with Denver Botanic Gardens and Veterans to Farmers.  She now serves as a Self-Care Share Producer and Farmer at Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms along with being an instructor and ambassador for the Garden’s Veterans to Farmers program. She also lends her experience and voice to several food sovereignty and advocacy organizations in Colorado.

Matt Tennill | Triple H Family Farms

In 2013 Matt retired from the U.S. Army after a 14-year career as a well-decorated infantryman. In 2016 Matt decided to make the trip from Marshall, MO to attend our greenhouse class in Denver, CO.  Matt and his family already owned 13 acres that were once the Boatright homestead; built in the 1880s. After returning home from Denver with nothing but farming ideas on his mind, he decided to start Triple H Family Farms. 

Since 2016 Matt has built two hoop houses, added multiple garden beds, raises chickens, sheep, bees, and grown hundreds of tomatoes. They continue to add new items every year for their faithful customers who show up at the markets each week excited for their share. Triple H Family Farms is proud to have become synonymous with delicious tomatoes sold at the Sedalia Area Farmers Market.

John Bauman | Sprout City Farms

John is a graduate from both our 2016 greenhouse class and our Denver Botanic Gardens Class.  He has also attended our business planning class… twice!   

John served in the U.S. Navy for 6 years as a nuclear propulsion plant operator during the first Gulf War.  After leaving the Navy in 1994 John earned a mechanical engineering degree and entered the civilian workforce. However, John found himself laid off from a water-pump company in 2005. He bounced through a string of temp jobs, all the while battling what he calls “untreated rage.” For a period of time, he was homeless. Finally, in 2013, John landed in Denver, where he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and a caseworker suggested the local agricultural-training program Veterans to Farmers.  Since 2016, John has gone on to bring his engineering mindset to the farming world and is incredibly passionate about finding creative and ecologically conscious ideas to solve problems without the use of petrol. John started out as an apprentice for Sprout City Farms in Denver after finishing the VTF class and he is now the assistant farm manager.     

Read about John here - https://modernfarmer.com/2018/01/hope-heroes-farming-helping-veterans-find-purpose/

Jason Heitman | Green Jeans Market Farm

Jason Heitman is a graduate from our 2016 greenhouse class. 

Jason came out from Saratoga Springs New York to learning with us Denver.  Upon completing the course, Jason returning back home and decided it was time to turn his farming ambitions into a reality.  After securing 1 acre of land in 2017, Jason began planting seeds and building his dream.  As of 2020, Jason has built a 34’ x 88’ greenhouse with the help of the NRCS program, providing him the chance to expand his operation.  Green Jeans Market Farm is now a staple at the Saratoga Farmers market, one that supports an active CSA and direct sales to local restaurants.  Jason hired his first intern in 2020 and is hoping to offer fellow veterans the same opportunity to experience agriculture.

Jessica Netzel | Netzel Farms

Jessica is a graduate from our 2018 Denver Botanic Gardens class and our business planning class. 

Jessica separated from the U.S. Air Force in 2017 where she was a captain working as an  Advanced Practice Nurse. After separation, Jessica decided she needed a much-deserved mental break from the medical field and went searching for something that connected her to nature.  Shortly after, she came across Veterans to Farmers. The program piqued her interest to not only learn but to do so next to her veteran counterparts.  Jessica enrolled and by the end of the 10-week course, she described her experience with farming as love at first sight.   

In 2019 Jessica was awarded an incubator plot in Denver through Go Farm where she started her journey as a local farmer selling at the market.  That same year Jessica decided to combine her medical background with a certificate in herbology, hoping to help her fellow veterans find natural and healthy ways to care for themselves while expanding her agricultural endeavors.   

Rick Tunney | Trinity Ridge Ranch

Rick is a graduate from our 2018 Denver Botanic Gardens class and our business planning class. 

Rick is a disabled combat veteran who served eight years in the United States Army.  For many years after returning to the civilian sector he and his wife worked in the corporate world. And like many folks, they decided to leave that corporate world behind and search out more sustainable and fulfilling lives. The Tunney’s decided to raise Yaks due to their environmentally friendly footprint, their self-sufficiency, and the flavor and health benefits of their meat. In 2014, their dreams and Trinity Ridge Ranch in Simla, CO was launched. In 2018 Rick decided to take part in the Veterans to Farmers course, both to learn more about farming, but also to connect with fellow veterans and agricultural resources.  Rick has since partnered with Denver Botanic Gardens to sell his Yak meat shares and most recently partnered with VTF to create the “Veterans to Ranchers” program.  Rick is hoping to share his knowledge and passion for ranching with his veteran family.

Lucas Branchaud | Hope Mushrooms

Lucas is a graduate from our 2017 Denver Botanic Gardens class and our business planning class.

In 2017 Lucas came across Veterans to Farmers while trying to find both resources and a community he could be a part of.  After finishing his commitment to the U.S. Army as an Infantryman Lucas decided he wanted to follow through with a lifelong desire to cultivate gourmet mushrooms and be his own boss.  Fascinated since childhood by the fantastic fungi, and now equipped with a veteran community, Lucas started Hope Mushrooms in 2017.  Since, Hope Mushrooms has become a staple in northern Colorado for beautiful gourmet mushrooms.  Found at the local farmers market every weekend he is often sold out; you will have to arrive early if you want to beat his regulars. 

Royce Hale | Farm Education Coordinator at Denver Botanic Gardens

Royce Graduate from both our Greenhouse class and our Denver Botanic Gardens class in 2017. 

Royce served the U.S. Navy as a submarine propulsion plant operator for 6 years.  After leaving the military Royce went on to earn his associates in education, a certificate in Environmental Education as well as a master’s degree in Science. Royce went on to teach science in the public-school system for many years.  However, his passion to farm, and grow food for his local community led him to leave the public-school system in 2016 to chase a dream. After, he started Guffarmery Farms, an urban farm business providing community shares of fresh produce.  In 2017 Royce discovered the Veterans to Farmers program and did not waste the chance to expand his skillset and network with likeminded veterans.  After graduating from the class, Royce was hired on at Denver Botanic Garden as a 2017 farmhand.  In 2018 Royce was selected to be the new Farm Education Coordinator at DBG.  Royce’s diverse experience in military, agriculture, and education was a perfect fit to teach and mentor our future veteran farmers.