On a Thursday night, a bonfire crackles as Jacob VandenPlas passes plates and stories among fellow veterans gathered on his farm. They’ve spent the day tending the soil, caring for plants and, most importantly, working alongside one another. As the sun sets and the fire blazes on, the conversation shifts to stories of service, struggles at home and a bond that they still crave.
After two combat tours and years of struggling to find his identity at home, Jacob discovered farming as an outlet to regain the structure, purpose and community he’d missed. In 2021, Jacob founded DC Farm for Vets, a nonprofit in Door County helping veterans, first responders, police, firefighters and their families learn sustainable agriculture while reconnecting with each other.
What started as a search for healing has grown into a mission tackling isolation, improving mental health and a reminder that food and fellowship can save lives.
The Call to Service
Jacob always knew he wanted to be a soldier.
“I knew at the age of ten playing capture the flag that I wanted to be in the United States Army and I wanted to serve in war,” Jacob said.
Jacob and his closest high school classmates enlisted in the National Guard on June 6, 2001. Just three months later, he watched the world fall apart as the Twin Towers fell on September 11 from a terrorist attack.
“Our enlistment suddenly became very real, very fast,” Jacob recalled.
After high school graduation, Jacob was one of the first three Wisconsin National Guard soldiers to attend infantry school at Fort Benning, Georgia. During training, he got the taste of the camaraderie amongst soldiers that became a defining part of his service.
His first deployment sent him to Kuwait in June 2005. During his tour, he served as a gunner providing convoy security into Iraq. In back-to-back tours, he rose to the role of truck commander at just 21-years-old with the responsibility of leading three gun trucks, 30 semis and millions of dollars in equipment.
The responsibility was immense, but Jacob said the hardest part of serving wasn’t combat; it was coming home.
Transitioning to Civilian Life
Jacob’s second tour was cut short as he was med flighted out with a traumatic brain injury, spending time recovering in Germany and later at Walter Reed and Fort Bragg before having the clearance to return home. Little did he know that the hardest part of his deployment was still ahead of him.
“When you hang up the hat of active duty and put on the hat of being a veteran, you experience a tremendous amount of loss,” Jacob said. “You lose your job, your housing, your friends that have become family – you lose your identity.”
Skills gained in the infantry do not translate smoothly into civilian life. While he continued to serve in the National Guard until 2014, shifting to civilian life left a hole that was difficult to fill. He missed the brotherhood of training and combat that no job was able to replace. Despite a wealth of skills obtained through his service, Jacob struggled to find a job and even spent time homeless as he tried to rebuild his life after war.
“I had accomplished my life goal by the age of 21,” Jacob said. “Now I had to figure out what to do with the rest of my life because, honestly, I never expected to make it back home. It took years to stop living day-to-day and start looking ahead to the future.”
Peace Within the Soil
Years later, while studying environmental science at UW-Green Bay, Jacob discovered the positive impact a quality diet can have on mental health.
“Your mental health begins with the quality of food you are consuming,” Jacob said. “If your body is feeling good, it gives you the extra edge it needs to combat mental health struggles.”
This mindset drew Jacob to a 40-acre farmette in Door County that he and his wife, Emily, purchased in 2018. He found the things he enjoyed most about serving his country were also true in agriculture.
“As a soldier, you are not working a typical 9-5 job; you are working until the mission is complete,” Jacob said. “Something very similar can be said about farmers.”
In 2021, Jacob established DC Farm to Vets, a nonprofit whose mission is serving veterans and first responders through agriculture and sustainability. The nonprofit was inspired by Victory Gardens during the world wars when your civic duty was to grow food and share it with your neighbor.
DC Farm for Vets has helped veterans get started farming, plant gardens and learn skills like food preservation to benefit their lives at home.
The nonprofit was started after farming helped Jacob conquer his own struggles.
“After two to three years of farming, I saw a significant impact on my mental health and how it improved my life with the struggles I have from being overseas,” Jacob said.
Building a Community
Jacob shared that a sense of community is something veterans crave when they return to civilian life. The loss of community paired with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health challenges have had a lasting impact on veterans across generations. According to the study “Operation Deep Dive”, those challenges have led to a staggering 44 veterans who die by suicide per day in the United States.
With DC Farm for Vets, Jacob saw a way to give veterans a place to connect and support one another.
“Wherever you go, community is built around food,” Jacob said.
Every Thursday night, Jacob hosts an evening harvest party where veterans and volunteers participate in an activity on the farm and learn something they can do at home or on their own farms. Afterwards, they enjoy a good meal and sit around the fire, facilitating an informal feeling of therapy where they can open up and talk about their struggles.
“Soldiers are inherently wired to serve something bigger than themselves,” Jacob said. “DC Farm for Vets opens the door for me to talk about my own struggles, even when it is difficult to do so, while letting people know it is okay to talk about theirs as well.”
If you are looking for a way to support veterans in your area, Jacob said the biggest thing is to ensure veterans are participating in veteran organizations like DC Farm for Vets and regularly checking in on them.
“No matter where you are, just calling a veteran you know and checking in on them is the best support you can give,” Jacob said. “No one knows just how much weight it carries to simply hear someone ask, ‘Are you okay?’ or ‘How have you been?’”
As he looks in the eyes of fellow veterans around the fire on his farm, Jacob is proud of the impact of DC Farm for Vets and looks forward to the impact that lies ahead.
“I found my own peace and harmony in growing food and being in agriculture,” Jacob said. “It feels a lot like home and that, for me, is pretty awesome.”
This article originally appeared in the 2025 October | November Rural Route issue. This article was written by Cassie Sonnentag.
Source: Door County Veteran Builds Community of Healing Through Agriculture