“Tanks to Tractors” at Toby’s Feed Barn in Pt. Reyes Station gave locals and others (including a reporter from L.A. and a sociologist from France) an opportunity to meet some of the young men and women who have returned home to pursue work on America’s farms.

The event was open for free admission, with good food and drink to enjoy while the speakers spoke and during the social times before and after. Here are some photos from the event:

A down-home venue in a beautiful location, Pt. Reyes Station.

Helga Hellburg, of the main sponsor Marin Organic, welcomes the audience.

Michael O'Gorman, Project Director of FVA, tells its history.

Wendy Johnson, Master Gardener of the Green Gulch Zen Center, prepares to pass around the bell to honor all veterans.

Amy Fairweather, Director of Swords to Plowshares and the Iraq Veteran Project expresses her gratitude for FVC's mission..

Mary Tillman, Gold Star Mother and author speaks in support of FVC.

Veteran and small scale vegetable farmer Matt McCue describes the unforgiving discipline of growing winter squash.

Jeremy Lopez expresses his gratitude to his vineyard mentor Joe Judge.

Wendy Johnson closes the meeting with a story about a pomegranate and its inspirational meaning to a soldier in combat.

David Eddy wrote this article about FVC: Growers Helping Vets. It includes a good retelling of our origin story.

At their first meetings, they attracted not only interested growers, but three women who had lost sons in Iraq or Afghanistan. One of the women was Mary Tillman, the mother of Pat Tillman, who left a lucrative career as an NFL player to join the Army after 9/11. The women thought the Farmer-Veteran Coalition might help veterans who faced combat deal with their experiences, says O’Gorman, providing a place for healing.

“A lot of guys who’ve been in war talk about the psychological aspects of farming, about working with something that’s alive and positive,” he says. “A lot of people find that after the war experience there is something therapeutic in farming.”

Hosted by Scott Shafer, this week’s California Report Magazine – an audio presentation carried by National Public Radio – included a very nice 5-minute program about the Farmer-Veteran Coalition. Included are interviews with Matt Mccue, Jeremy Lopez and Michael O’Gorman. You can listen to the program in both downloadable MP3 and streaming Realmedia formats here.

And here’s the accompanying slide show.

Following the benefit dinner, we’ve had two major local newspapers publish stories about the Farmer-Veteran Coalition project.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat published an article titled “Farming helps veterans ease back into civilian life.”

The San Francisco Chronicle then published an article titled “Food Conscious: Farmers Recruit Combat Veterans.”

The text of these articles can also be found here on this site.