My experience with Simple Promise Farms actually started before I ever knew much about the farm itself.
After several treatment attempts in the same year, I had run out of insurance coverage and didn’t have the money to continue getting help. Through the Simple Promise Farms scholarship program, I was able to go to Ranch House Recovery. Without that opportunity, I honestly don’t know what would have happened next.
If you had asked me back then if I’d enjoy working on a farm, I probably would’ve laughed. I wasn’t a farm guy. I had never done anything like that before.
But once I got there, I realized it wasn’t really about farming.
Going from the pace of addiction to the pace of the farm was a big adjustment. Everything slowed down. We planted, harvested, worked at the markets, and got to talk to people about what we were doing. It gave me time to think and to be present, which wasn’t something I was used to.
The biggest thing I took away wasn’t learning how to grow vegetables. It was learning what it felt like to be part of something that helped other people.
Knowing that the work we were doing could help pay for someone else’s treatment or recovery support made it feel like it mattered. I had been on the receiving end of that generosity, and now I was getting to play a small part in giving it back.
That experience also changed the way I looked at success. Before recovery, I spent a lot of time chasing things that I thought would make me happy. Looking back, most of those things were really just feeding my ego. What I found on the farm was that having purpose felt a whole lot better.
That idea has stayed with me ever since. Being of service has become one of the biggest parts of my recovery. Whether it’s helping someone find treatment, volunteering my time, or just showing up for people, I’ve found that my life is a lot better when I’m focused on something bigger than myself.
One of the coolest parts of all of this is that a few years later, I was invited to join the board of the same organization that helped me get into treatment. That’s something I never would’ve imagined when I first showed up at Ranch House.
I’ll always be grateful for what Simple Promise Farms did for me. Now I just hope I can help make sure someone else gets that same opportunity.
-Brad Davis, Simple Promise Farms Board Member
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