Collection: Bivvy Farms

Bivvy Farms is designed to be a homeless Veteran's organic PTSD garden program.

We have built a therapeutic environment for Veterans to be able to farm and garden as a way to help with PTSD. This would also be a paid opportunity for our homeless Veterans. The food grown by the Vets will be free to the homeless Veterans as well as to local food kitchens helping feed homeless Veterans. One day we hope to partner with a local food truck to deliver food to the Bivvy cart solar parking lots program and other homeless camp sites. 

Bivvy Farms

We want to provide our vets with access to healthy, local and in season organic food. We plan to teach plant-based diets in order to promote better mind and body while simultaneously providing a local employment opportunity. All produce comes from organic heirloom seeds donated by a local combat Veteran named Allen. Allen is a part of seedsaver.org: one of the world's only nonprofit seed banks.

Bivvy Farms is community funded so please help us educate and feed our homeless Veterans!

Get Involved!

Bivvy Farm has permission to farm on a half acer lot at: 3240 Freedom Blvd; Watsonville, CA. Our goals are to set up other community gardens throughout Santa Cruz County.  

We are located at 3240 Freedom Blvd Watsonville CA 95076. Our Main Gate is directly across from 3279 Freedom blvd.  

We need your help to make this work. Please inquire on our volunteer page to see how you can help your community.

Further information regarding health and nutrition...

Diet plays a major role in mental health as it is estimated that 90 percent of the body's serotonin is made in the digestive tract. Eat right and it can reduce PTSD, suicide, depression, anxiety and not to mention inflammation. 

Inflammation  is the root of all evil to the body. When anything gets inflamed, the body responds in pain and agony. Reducing inflammation can lead to a number of physical benefits including prevention of heart disease, diabetes, depression, arthritis, inflammatory bowel syndrome, and other autoimmune disorders.

Immune systems: If we allow our immune system to do its job, it will naturally fight cancers - but if it's distracted doing body maintenance due to poor diet, cancers can grow. 

We refer to PTSD as a disorder because it disrupts our lives.  However, PTSD actually develops in a  primitive part of our brains to protect and save us because things happen there faster than originally thought. Seconds and milliseconds count for tons when we are in actual  danger, so this part of our brain quickly dumps a lot of chemicals into our bodies to help us fight, fly or freeze. This creates flashbacks and hyper-alertness so we're ultra-aware of the danger. That's why we can respond even when not on the lookout for it. It is intrinsic. We don't do it on purpose-- it's an automatic response to perceived threat, and very helpful in actual danger.  It's not weakness, or cowardice--it's a part of our brain that is clumsily trying to keep us safe.

Unfortunately, this part of our brain is fairly unsophisticated, so it's either on or off.  This means that when there's a trigger--a sound, smell, or visual that has even a slight resemblance to past actual danger --the system turns on and dumps these chemicals despite the lack of an actual, real-time threat. This makes us feel terrible, and afraid and angry.  We act in ways that make our life harder.  One of the consequences is that we stop putting energy into the basics that support our healing and peace, and either spend our days frightened and angry, and/or move toward addiction to deal with these feelings. If we don't get adequate sleep, hydration, oxygenation and nutrition, it's hard to move forward. Thus, these are essential to our survival. 

Without these basics, our brain and body chemistry go out of balance.  Good nutrition affects our gut biome, which affects our vagus nerve system, which plays a part in calming anxiety, and managing other emotions - as well as making us feel more energetic and clear-headed. Oxygenation from exercise, especially outdoors, gives us focus and clarity, increases energy, and helps dissipate the chemical reactions of PTSD.  Chronic sleep deprivation, common in PTSD because of the body's attempt to protect us by staying alert, actually depletes us and creates more anxiety and racing thoughts, as well as brain fog and confusion. If we aren't hydrated properly we lose focus and energy, and typically feel unwell in general.  

Without focus, clarity and energy, we don't have the reserves to fight and heal from PTSD.  We have some pretty good therapies that help trauma these days--Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, CBT/DBT, VR, addiction recovery, etc.--but if we can't think or focus, they aren't very effective. Pay attention to these underlying basics first and healing and peace become more attainable--it's worth the effort.. We all deserve that.]

By Vicki Oliverio, LMFT 

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100% OF DONATIONS GO TO SUPPORTING THE HOMELESS VETERANS IN OUR COMMUNITY