Dear, Freedom House Recovery and Jubilee Farms, and all readers of the blog.

We need substance-free gardens for people getting out of Freedom House Recovery and Detox Center.

Because I myself have a mental illness, I have seen firsthand how the ‘regular economy’ needs to change. I recently got out of the neuroscience hospital, so I know what it is like to go through the hospital system: people cannot find work when they get out… people go to the homeless shelter… and people find a place to stay at the cheapest place in town where they only find the same drugs and alcohol that they were trying to avoid.

Garden Rangers could be something different. A garden rangers’ farm could replace a halfway house. It may seem like a lofty goal, but you have to think big. If we are able to do flip farm for every fast food restaurant, then it would create a lot of healing space. We can have farms set up in the country away from the city where there are no drugs or alcohol to be found. Every person on the farm gets a volunteer assigned to them. Sometimes a halfway house could be a waste; this would be something different. It could be a place where people actually want to be.

My idea is to think big. Our goal is how to solve this problem of addiction without a state institution. Can you help us at Gardens for Earth to create a vision for success?