TAMPA, Fla. — In the heart of Sulfur Springs, rows of fresh vegetables stretch across fertile soil. A revolutionary approach to addiction recovery is taking root.
Root Awakening Farm represents more than just another treatment facility. It's a beacon of hope for those who have tried everything else and found themselves still struggling in the darkness of substance use disorder.
The 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which officially opens Monday, challenges every preconceived notion about what recovery should look like. Here, healing happens not in sterile conference rooms or clinical settings, but with dirt under fingernails, sweat on brows and the profound satisfaction that comes from nurturing life from the ground up.
"The way that recovery has been seen for years has been through the lens of 12-step meetings, go to a high-price drug program, and then you're on your own," said Pastor George Wood, co-founder of Root Awakening Farm — his voice carrying the weight of personal experience and countless stories of struggle he has witnessed. "For us, it's about connection. Connection to one another, connection to the earth and connection to society."
Wood's journey to this moment has been carved by profound loss and hard-won wisdom. Having maintained his own sobriety for almost 20 years, he understands the devastating grip of addiction not just as a counselor, but as someone who has walked the treacherous path himself. He also lost both his brother and sister to drug overdoses.
"I've seen what doesn't work in individuals' lives, and I've also seen what does work through different organizations that I've run," Wood said. "I knew that tapping into the science behind wellness and the practical approach to recovery, bringing them together, would be the way to go."
The farm's innovative three-pronged approach integrates recovery services like support groups and peer counseling, wellness activities including yoga and contrast therapy, and agricultural work that produces fresh food for the local community. But this isn't just about combining different treatment modalities, it's about addressing the fundamental human need for purpose, connection and hope.
Executive Director and Co-founder Amanda Sharp conceived this vision a decade ago while working as a clinical researcher in the recovery field.
"I just kept seeing how things were not working in this space, and wanted to do something that did work," Sharp said.
As a hobby agriculturalist who had experienced firsthand the therapeutic power of working with soil and growing plants, she recognized something profound that the clinical world was missing.
"I just knew how therapeutic it felt to get your hands dirty and empowering to grow something," Sharp said.
The traditional recovery model, Sharp explains, operates on a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature. It assumes people need to be controlled, directed and threatened with consequences to change their behavior. But her research and experience told a different story.
"I think we have this misconception as a society that people need to be told what to do in order to make a change. And that's not actually true," Sharp said. "I don't know about you, but I know for me, when somebody tells me what to do, I often want to do the opposite."
Instead of the authoritative, rule-based approach that characterizes many treatment facilities, Root Awakening Farm operates on principles of intrinsic motivation, community support and unconditional acceptance.
"Instead of taking that hierarchical approach to recovery, what does work is when somebody is motivated from within," Sharp said. "It needs to be supported. People need to feel like they're cared for. People need to feel like they have support and community and love in order to get better."
This philosophy extends to every aspect of the program, including its funding model. In a world where quality addiction treatment often comes with prohibitive price tags, Root Awakening Farm operates entirely on donations. Every service, from individual wellness coaching to group therapy sessions to the daily farm-to-table meals, is available to anyone regardless of their ability to pay.
"Everything we have is by donation only, whatever you can pay, and if you can't pay anything, then it's free," Wood said. "We specifically are trying to help those in recovery, friends and family of those in recovery and allies to those in recovery."
The farm has been quietly working with men from local recovery programs since May, and the transformation Sharp has witnessed has exceeded even her most optimistic expectations. She admits to initial nervousness about how participants would receive some of the wellness offerings.
"I was nervous about the wellness side of things. I thought there's such a cultural divide between people who go to yoga classes and do sauna cold plunge and people who maybe have been recently homeless or incarcerated," Sharp said. "And I thought, are they going to accept this?"
Wood echoes this concern, describing the initial skepticism with characteristic honesty: "Getting them to try yoga — you got guys that just got out of prison and yoga is like far-fetched to them as anything they would ever do."
The results speak for themselves. Sharp describes watching participants emerge from sauna and cold plunge sessions or yoga classes with expressions of wonder and relief.
"The guys will take a sauna and a cold plunge or do a yoga class, and afterward just say, 'Wow, I've never felt so good in my body,'" Sharp said. "To be able to see it working has been really beautiful."
For Sean McCarthy, who initially thought the program was "just torture" during his first week in the August heat, the transformation has been profound. What began as physical discomfort evolved into something he never expected: a reconnection with parts of himself he thought were lost forever.
"For me, it helped me reconnect with myself. A lot of stuff I learned from my mom when I was a kid, because I really got lost in today's society," McCarthy said. "It's really helped me reconnect with being me and finding me and being part of the community, not just doing selfish stuff, but giving back."
Robert Millard, who has been involved with the program for three months after multiple attempts at recovery through other programs, describes his experience as "quite a journey". One that has fundamentally altered his understanding of what's possible.
"The journey of really healing, getting peace, of knowing that there's something better out there in life than struggling," Millard said. "I've been to rock bottom so many times, and to know that there's a place like this to really put your mind into something totally different and pure and great for yourself and your recovery."
Millard says the program has reframed how he views himself and his self-worth.
"This place actually gives you a hands-on feeling. You get to experience ways in your life that you didn't think you could do before, and they actually let you do things that you know how to do," Millard said. "And if you want to experience something that you don't know how to do, you're able to do that here."
The agricultural component serves purposes that extend far beyond therapy. Every tomato harvested, every row of lettuce tended, becomes an act of service to the broader Sulfur Springs community. In a time when food costs continue to rise and food insecurity affects countless families, the farm's produce distribution program addresses real needs while teaching participants the profound satisfaction that comes from contributing to something larger than themselves.
"By farming, we are helping them to produce food produce," Wood said. "Now we get to take this food and give it to the least of these in our community. We get to help those, especially in today's society, when food is so costly."
This giving back component addresses what Wood identifies as a critical missing piece in many people's lives before they found recovery — the principle of service that has been "lacking in people that are stuck in their substance use disorder."
The farm's approach recognizes that addiction often stems from a profound sense of disconnection, from self, from others, from purpose, from hope. By creating opportunities for meaningful connection in all these areas, Root Awakening Farm addresses root causes rather than just symptoms.
"Hope is critical to a person being able to sustain long-term recovery," Wood said, his voice carrying the conviction of someone who has seen too many people lose that battle. "Hope comes when you see there are still ways I have not tried to change my life. There are other ways that I could attempt to transform my life that I haven't tapped into, and that gives them just a little bit of hope that they need."
For participants like Millard, who had reached the point where traditional approaches felt futile, this hope represents the difference between continued struggle and genuine transformation.
"Until you are in a place of mindset and struggle and to know that your worth can be rejuvenated for something better than what you could even think possible, then it really is possible," Millard said. "You have to realize there's a good way to live and there's a bad way to live, and if you want to prosper, you got to step up and be a man or woman in your life to make that happen."
Sharp acknowledges that the program's success depends not just on the innovative approach, but on the community's willingness to support something different. The farm operates entirely on donations, and sustaining this model requires ongoing community investment.
"We do need community support," Sharp said. "We want this to be sustainable. We want this to be able to grow, to get bigger, to be a movement, rather than just one little farm. And that means getting donor support for the long-term success."
The farm operates Monday through Friday, welcoming anyone seeking recovery support, family members of those in recovery and community allies. Every service, from individual wellness coaching to group therapy sessions to the daily farm-to-table meals, remains available regardless of ability to pay.
You can donate to Root Awakening here.
You can find more about getting involved here.
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