Reclaiming the Promise: Planting Hope, Growing Farmers

At Dharma’s Garden, we believe that deep connection to the land, nourishing food, and hands-on education are essential for healthy communities. As a nonprofit educational farm, our mission is to cultivate not just vegetables—but values, skills, and future leaders in sustainable agriculture.

In February of this year, Dharma’s Garden was selected for a $100,000 federal grant to launch an exciting and impactful new initiative: our 2025 Farm Apprentice Program — a paid, hands-on learning experience in regenerative agriculture for teens and young adults, ages 14–30, designed to empower the next generation of farmers, food justice advocates, and land stewards. We were thrilled to say the least, and deeply honored to be selected for this competitive national grant, funded through the Environmental Protection Agency's "Thriving Communities" Program, with specific focus on "Environmental and Climate Justice".

This is grant funding that has already been fully approved by congress and officially obligated as part of our federal budget, with legally binding contracts in place — in short, it is a promise and commitment, backed in good faith by the United States government. Or so we thought…

We were ready to go. Our community was excited. Applications from aspiring young farmers started pouring in. And our staff has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to make it all happen in time for the 2025 farm season…

…Until… everything changed. In May, before we received any grant funding, we were notified that the EPA terminated the grant contract that was meant to fund our program. For our tiny nonprofit, the consequences have been enormous. This grant would have supported infrastructure improvements, educational resources, stipends for apprentices, guest expert educators in the field as well as a full-time staff position — all of which are critical for the success of our program. Just weeks before we were set to welcome our first cohort, we were left with no funding to make it happen.

Though we are disheartened, we are NOT discouraged! We’ve chosen to honor our commitment to our community anyway. We believe integrity matters, and this program is too important to abandon. We are moving forward with our 2025 Farm Apprentice program because we believe in these young people and we will not let them down. When our government acts in a way that is devoid of integrity, failing to follow through with its commitments or make good on its promises, we feel that we must rise to do better — not just in words, but in action. We believe that it is incumbent on us as individuals, as organizations, and as local communities, to model what true integrity looks like, and to do everything in our power to live up to our commitments to one another.

Now we’re asking YOU to join us: we are committed to raising the full $100,000 ourselves. If you value local farms, climate justice, environmental stewardship, community resilience, food equity, sustainable agriculture, and opportunity for our youth, help us to fund this program and transform this broken promise into a story of resilience, responsibility, and hope.

Your contribution will help us to:

* Hire essential staff to run and support the program

* Provide stipends for youth apprentices

* Purchase tools, books, and other supplies

* Create an outdoor classroom for an improved learning environment

* Offer meaningful workshops and community-building events

* Provide a comprehensive training in regenerative agriculture, farm-based education, and land stewardship

* Strengthen our ability to train future farmers who will go on to nourish their own communities

Every donation—large or small—makes a difference.




Please give what you can, share this campaign, and help us reclaim this powerful vision.

(If by some miracle, we raise more money than needed for the 2025 Farm Apprentice program, all extra funds will be rolled into next year's program).