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How Zephrine Hanson Of Hampden Farms Is Helping To Address The Growing Challenge Of Food Insecurity

Yitzi Weiner

An Interview With Martita Mestey

My goal is to inspire people to get involved in local agriculture, supporting local farmers through buying from them even if it is more expensive than the local big box.

In many parts of the United States, there is a crisis of people having limited reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. As prices rise, this problem will likely become more acute. How can this problem be solved? Who are the leaders helping to address this crisis?

In this interview series, we are talking to leaders who are helping to address the increasing problem of food insecurity who can share the initiatives they are leading to address and solve this problem.

As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Zephrine Hanson.

Zephrine Hanson spent 8 years as an Air Force photojournalist and has a 20-year background in media communications and public relations. After completing a life-changing therapeutic farm program for veterans in 2017, Zephrine, her husband, and 3 children pivoted into the Colorado agricultural community creating Hampden Farms, a suburban farm offering sustainable farming solutions, organic production, and small-batch artisanal products made from natural ingredients lovingly grown and conscientiously sourced. From seed to sale, we promote creativity and innovation across producers and providers while encouraging conscious consumption in wholesome products that are simply good for your mind, body, and soul. The primary goal for Hampden Farms is to strengthen the local food system’s capacity through diverse retail and wholesale products preserved and crafted from local growers and farmerscreating year-round revenue sources and avoiding lost income. Additionally, Hampden Farms amplifies and supports the work of local community organizations who advocate for food equity, and community-wealth building. Hampden Farms has a partnership with Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms focused on the lavender fields — growing, caring, and creating a value-add-product from a single use field. Zephrine started her relationship with DBG when she attended the Veterans to Farmers program and continues to work with them in helping other veterans transition into the agriculture space. Zephrine is currently creating content on LinkedIn as 1 of the 100 members of the inaugural members of the LinkedIn Content Creators Accelerator program. Her content is focused on farming and its many intersections and alignment.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I grew up in southern California with my mother, father, and younger sister. At 18, I joined the USAF because it was the path of least resistance to achieve my educational, financial and adventure goals. As an active-duty military member, I was trained to be a military photojournalist; photographing tragedy, triumph, and everything in between.

While I was stationed in Germany, I met my husband of 23 years. After my medical retirement from the Air Force, we moved back to California; we attended college, started our civilian careers, and had 3 children, a son, and twin daughters now ages 13 and 12.

In 2016 we moved to Denver, Colorado and reset our life, focusing on mental and emotional health as a lifestyle. I attended a therapeutic farm program for veterans, Veterans to Farmers at Denver Botanic Gardens and fell madly in love with farming while also finding the tools to manage my mental health and help my family navigate life on the autism and ADHD spectrum.

In 2017, I started Hampden Farms focusing on making farming financially and environmentally sustainable through diverse agricultural entrepreneurship remaining at Denver Botanic Gardens to study the profitability of lavender and medicinal herb farming. Additionally, Hampden Farms amplifies and supports the work of local BIPOC women led community organizations who advocate for food equity, and community-wealth building.

Farming saved my life and then gave me everything I ever wanted emotionally, spiritually, and physically, opening opportunities I never imagined including being accepted into this program.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

My career as a farmer and farm business owner has led me back to my first love, storytelling and as well as numerous other interests from my youth. Including education, entrepreneurship, advocacy, spirituality, community service, photography, gentle parenting. I now see everything through the lens of farming; seasons, planting, harvesting teamwork and so on.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

The tipping point of my career was investing in my mental health. Having a therapist, reading dozens of books on personal development, and coaching in the areas I had deficits. For example, I struggled to hire a personal assistant even though I needed support. After self-reflection, I realized that I was unclear in my needs therefore unclear in my requirements for an assistant. Unintentionally I was a toxic leader by being unclear in my taskings. Thanks to coaching and self-reflection, what used to feel like losses have become lessons that have led to current successes.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My husband and I met 25 years ago as colleagues in the Air Force. Before smartphones and apps that simplify graphic design, he was a graphic artist, helping to bring my multimedia designs to life. I am a serial entrepreneur, and he has supported every endeavor, including farming. Initially I farmed therapeutically, but after the pandemic and civil arrest and supply chain issues the farm evolved into a family business. While still working his day job my husband built our backyard micro farm and he and or 3 children helped me manage and harvest lavender on another property.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

The character traits most instrumental to my success as a leader are

-Self-reflection and personnel development allows me the opportunity to be the best version of myself.

-Development of others; I love sharing resources that are free or near free that help develop people’s business and career.

-Ethically and civic-minded, my goal is to leave a place better off than when I found it.

In 2021 I hired a couple of people to help run Hampden Farms. I was unclear in my needs and expectations and the team moved on. While I was frustrated, I knew that I needed to do some self-reflection and work on myself. I am happy to share that I have since hired based on realistic and attainable expectations.

I want what is best for the greater good, so I have to be honest with myself and everyone else about my shortcomings and strengths, including my expectations of them and myself. Leading by example allows people to be honest with themselves and me.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” ― Maya Angelou

Farming/agriculture is the “butterfly” of my life, but it took a life I had invested in falling apart for me to come to farming. I “lost ‘’ everything that was my identity at the time. I went through years of therapy and painful self-reflection, but that hurt forced me to change, leading me to farming and everything that has blossomed from it.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Can you describe to our readers how your work is helping to address the challenge of food insecurity?

Hampden Farms provides economic benefits to farmers by providing business to business and business to customer supply chain resilience by identifying value-added crops and products.

Hamden Farms grows and sources lavender, flowers and herbs which are sold in stores and to small batch local makers of bath, body and herbal value-add products. We handle sourcing, marketing and distribution aligned with the needs of the farmers and vendors. Our goal is to source from local farmers and growers creating symbiotic relationships in the community and keeping the money in the local economy.

Hampden Farms hires apprentices from Colorado training programs to manage and harvest value-add crops supporting the next generation of Colorado growers and farmers.

Hampden Farms believes in investing all funding within the Colorado farming community, minus packaging and shipping costs.

Can you share something about your work that makes you most proud? Is there a particular story or incident that you found most uplifting?

What makes me most proud of my work is the communities I get to work with and amplify.

I had the opportunity to moderate the Black Homestead Homecoming event held by Outdoor Afro and Denver Botanic Gardens. During the event we viewed Outdoor Afro’s National Policy and Education Director Taishya Adams’ conversation with Alice Craig McDonald, 87, descendant of The Dry. An abandoned farming community in Manzanola, Colorado. Black homesteaders settled the area in 1917, which once had 700 Black residents. It was transformative to learn about Manzanola and its history. You can see the documentary here https://youtu.be/nzEUiBlFHqI

In your opinion, what should other business and civic leaders do to further address these problems? Can you please share a few things that can be done to further address the problem of food insecurity?

In order to address food insecurity, we have to

  1. Acknowledge that food is a right not a privilege.
  2. Provide access to culturally relevant food.
  3. Each community is unique and ask the communities that are impacted by food insecurity what are the barriers?
  4. Implement the solutions shared by the community.

Food insecurity is at the intersection of several social problems, like lack of affordable housing, social isolation, economic/social disadvantage resulting from historic systemic oppression in marginalized communities, chronic or acute health problems, high medical costs, and low wages. By addressing these challenges, we can address and erase food insecurity in our local and global communities. Helping farmers and communities they feed.

Are there other leaders or organizations who have done good work to address the challenge of food scarcity? Can you tell us what they have done? What specifically impresses you about their work? Perhaps we can reach out to them to include them in this series.

The following organizations have inspired me by strategically working to promote:

  • Food Security — Addressing immediate food needs of our communities and offering the foods they want.
  • Food Justice — Addressing the institutions that perpetuate the segregation and distribution of food and appealing to those same systems for change.
  • Food Sovereignty — Addressing the true spiritual, mental, and physical needs of our communities and being in control of the means of production.

Frontline Farming-

https://www.frontlinefarming.org/

Frontline Farming (FLF) was formed in December 2018 due to the need for food-based social service work and advocacy in Denver. They are a food justice and farmer advocacy organization that believes good food should be for all people and that farmers deserve living wages.
Frontline is driven by the need to provide asset-based solutions that are community driven and allocate money to the communities we serve and the farmers who grow the food.

“Soul Fire Farm https://www.soulfirefarm.org/ is an Afro-Indigenous centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system. We raise and distribute life-giving food as a means to end food apartheid. With deep reverence for the land and wisdom of our ancestors, we work to reclaim our collective right to belong to the earth and to have agency in the food system. We bring diverse communities together on this healing land to share skills on sustainable agriculture, natural building, spiritual activism, health, and environmental justice. We are training the next generation of activist-farmers and strengthening the movements for food sovereignty and community self-determination.”

Mile High Farmers

https://www.milehighfarmers.com/

Mile High Farmers is a grassroots organization for farmers and farmer advocates in the Denver Metro Area. Mile High Farmers promotes the growth of agriculture in the Denver metro area through urban farmer advocacy, collaboration among farmers and their communities, and eater education.

Project Protect Food System Workers

https://www.projectprotectfoodsystems.org/

Was organized to ensure that this group of always-essential workers is adequately protected from COVID and appropriately compensated for their labor and for the risks they assume in service to the common good. We attend to the new and urgent needs of Colorado’s FSWs in the COVID-context. We also aim to address long-standing forms of marginalization that undermine food security and should not be tolerated in a society that aspires to equality and justice for all.

If you had the power to influence legislation, are there laws that you would like to see introduced that might help you in your work?

  • I’d like to see laws that support caregivers who are often women who are taking care of children and parents.
  • Laws that support agricultural workers like SB087.
  • Tax incentives for growing food at home to include patio gardens and indoor hydroponic systems
  • Community gardens subsidies by local, state, and federal governments.
  • More importantly I’d like the barriers to small scale farming changed.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

Five things I’ve learned about farming

  1. Farming is expensive
  2. Farming is emotional roller coaster
  3. Farming takes a community
  4. Farming is unfair
  5. Farming is worth it

In late summer of 2020, myself and all my Front Range farm community were frantically harvesting what we could and trying to cover the crops that weren’t ready. We were trying to save our growing season; the air was filled with smoke from wildfires and a snow storm was approaching … all during the start of the pandemic. We all salvaged what we could, not nearly as much as we planted, water, fed and taken care of. My heart hurt to let my crops go and I wondered if I could live this expensive and emotional roller coaster again and again. The fires and storms were unfair, but our community is strong, and farming is worth it. I am excited about our 2022 season especially since we are grant recipients of Bob Evans Farms, enabling us to start our season with abundance and pre-pay our vendors and begin collaborations earlier.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

My goal is to inspire people to get involved in local agriculture, supporting local farmers through buying from them even if it is more expensive than the local big box.

Grow one thing it could be a herb flower, fruit or vegetable. My micro farm is a reflection of my mental health. If I am not taking time to water and nurture my physical garden, I am not taking care of myself either.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂

It’s hard to pick just 1 person, but if I must … it’s Oprah Gail Winfrey. First of all I am sure the meal would be amazing and she has her own farm. She is a global teacher and I have learned so much from her numerous media outlets. Last but not least at 44 I understand her motto of living your best life. Not your perfect life, your best! Not somebody else’s life YOUR best life. And now I am doing just that.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Zephrine is currently creating community wellness and wealth building content on LinkedIn as an Alumni of the first 100 members of the LinkedIn’s Content Creators Accelerator Program. Her content is through the lens of farming and its many intersections and alignment .

You can find out more Zephrine and the #FarmWithZee project supported by LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/zephrine-hanson/

Personal Social Media

Company Social Media

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued fulfillment and success!

How Zephrine Hanson Of Hampden Farms Is Helping To Address The Growing Challenge Of Food Insecurity was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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