Joshua Franklin, Kwame Bey, Tess Acosta and Debbie Debozy construct a wash-and-pack station for Boots 2 Roots PDX.
Room to grow: Boots 2 roots PDX offers therapeuticvocational mix to engage veterans in agriculture
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VETERANS NEWS MAGAZINE
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arrie Allen had to go no farther than across the street to learn about gardening while growing up in Battle Ground. From the time she was 8 until she joined the U.S. Navy at 18, Allen would cross the street to work in her aunt’s impressive garden, which was the size of a residential lot. “As an 8-year-old, I’m sure I wasn’t any help,” she said. Allen, who served one enlistment as a boatswain’s mate, recently moved to an apartment in Vancouver. She could grow a few shade-tolerant flowers there, but not the sun-loving dahlias she adores — and certainly not on the scale she enjoyed in Battle Ground. To fill that void, Allen has her eyes on the southwest corner of the VA Portland Health Care System’s Vancouver Campus. “I can’t wait to get my hands into the soil,” she said. Allen is one of 10 Portland-Vancouver area veterans participating in Boots 2 Roots PDX. The nine-month program is both vocational — training veterans for jobs in horticulture and farming — and therapeutic by getting them outside growing vegetables, herbs and flowers.
