Muddy Roots Farm strives to bring healthy alternative food choices to the local community, while maintaining integrity and transparency. Farming with the purpose of giving back to the Earth by practicing natural farming techniques to produce healthy soil full of life and, in turn, nutrient dense products. Providing poison-free land for their animals, crops, pollinators, butterflies, beneficial insects, and all the life above ground and within the soil. The farm works to respect, nurture, and provide the most natural environment for their animals and crops to thrive. From chicks, piglets, and seedlings through the final product, putting animal welfare and the protection of our environment above all else. Kirsten and Chris farm in order to provide and encourage community interaction and sharing. Farming, for them, means to get their hands dirty doing what they love while being able to live happy and healthy surrounded by family, friends, animals, community, and the natural world!

Together with the Farmer Veteran Coalition of Connecticut, CT RC&D will work to implement a critically needed 3-year project that will create a CT Veteran Farmer Resource Hub, develop a CT Veteran Grown marketing campaign, and provide outreach and support through direct technical and marketing assistance by serving Veteran farmers across Connecticut. The CT Farmer Veteran Coalition (CT FVC), a chapter of the national Farmer Veteran Coalition organization, officially became a chapter in the summer of 2022. The mission of CT FVC is to mobilize Farmer Veterans to cultivate agricultural solutions for a vibrant and sustainable CT.

This effort builds on CT RC&D’s prior experience over the past decade plus in serving farmers who are socially underserved and Veterans through its existing programs. The goals of this project are twofold, first to create a resource hub and secondly, spearhead a CT Veteran Grown marketing campaign. The overall objective of this project is to support Veterans as they build a career in agriculture and assimilate back to civilian life which can be a challenge. This will be accomplished by CT RC&D’s staff, partnerships, networks, contracting with professionals, and working with experienced farmers. These educational opportunities will offer a pathway to success, reduce barriers, build community, and improve networking while enabling awareness and empowering Veteran Farmers to have access to and increase participation in programs, resources, and services offered by state and federal agencies.