New initiative seeks to promote healthy bodies and minds in New Milford
NEW MILFORD — Hamilton “Ham” Brower’s dream has roots, shoots, and leaves. It’s a gift that grows, and most importantly, nourishes those around it. And it all began with the seed of an idea.
Through his nonprofit, Stand Up 4 Health, and his partnership with Alessandro Piovezahn, owner of The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm, Brower is hoping to create a health and wellness initiative that would feed and educate New Milford’s residents. And after months of discussions with New Milford Social Services, plans are starting to move along.
While details are still being finalized, Brower plans to construct a greenhouse at The Silo filled with up to 50 aeroponic towers for growing fresh produce for locals through a process called vertical gardening. Aeroponics, from the Greek words for “air” and “labor,” is a method of growing plants without soil and using very little water. Instead, plant roots are suspended from the air and exposed to a moist, nutrient-rich environment where they suck in the nutrients they need. The vertical structure allows more plants to grow in less space.
Brower has dubbed the initiative “Nourish New Milford”— which is exactly what he intends to do.
“It’s been an idea that I’ve been floating through my nonprofit, Stand Up 4 Health, for quite some time,” Brower said.
A majority of the produce grown will go to the food bank, Brower said, and they may decide to sell a portion to local restaurants or at the farmer’s market to generate income to help with the greenhouse’s upkeep.
But they’re also hoping to reopen The Silo’s cooking school to offer food education and preparation classes that would build off the greenhouse’s produce.
By collaborating with New Milford’s Social Services, Brower hopes to offer volunteer opportunities and educational classes on nutrition and health to the families they serve, as well as to any other interested community members. The only criteria to join these classes or programs? “Are you a human being?” Brower said.
He envisions classes in the cooking school as hands-on experiences, perhaps with local chefs stopping in to offer insights.
One class, for example, might tackle Swiss chard. This leafy green can be intimidating to approach, much less prepare. Brower wants to provide tools to approach healthy eating from all angles.
“We’ll actually show them how to use it and [then] eat it together,” he said of his vision for classes. “We want it to be fun and participatory.”
Currently, Brower and Piovezahn are trying to raise enough money to purchase the aeroponic towers, build a greenhouse, and re-open the cooking school— none of which is cheap. As a result, they do not have an exact start date yet.
Based on estimates, the greenhouse and towers will cost around $100,000.
They’ve applied for some grants but Brower also plans to donate the money he has generated through Stand Up 4 Health, where he said he funnels the profits from his book sales and 100 percent of the commissions he makes as a representative with Juice+, a company that mines dietary supplements from concentrated fruit and vegetable extracts.
Piovezahn said the cooking school could have a soft opening in as soon as five weeks.
A promise and a commitment
Nourish New Milford— and everything that comes with it— isn’t just a passion project or pandemic pivot for Brower. It’s his commitment to what he calls “living a life of service” based on his own health struggles years ago.
After being diagnosed with HIV in the late 1980s, Brower got doctor’s orders to head home to get his affairs in order. That was 1995. Instead of giving in to that death sentence, Brower drastically changed his approach to his physical, mental and spiritual health, and dedicated his life to helping others learn to do the same.
On his wellness journey, Brower was introduced to the power of nutritional supplements and aeroponic tower gardening through his work with Juice+.
Now, he’s sharing his nutritional and health knowledge with the rest of New Milford. He believes, as his nonprofit’s website states, that “without our health, we have nothing.”
“People are so hungry for this right now,” said Brower, noting “an explosion of interest” in his work and preventative health care since the start of the pandemic.
He’s hoping that once Nourish New Milford is up and running, the community and town can dictate how it grows.
Shared dream for an ‘oasis of well-being’
When Brower and Piovezahn met last year, they realized they shared similar visions and formed a partnership.
Piovezahn said he has always wanted to have a big community garden on the property, and frequently gets inquiries. But it wasn’t until he met Brower that he knew he’d found the right person to spearhead the venture.
“He started telling me he always dreamed of creating a center for well-being and nature,” Piovezahn said. “I said, ‘why don’t you do it here?’ He couldn’t believe it, that I was inviting him.”
Now, they’ve been working together to create an “oasis of wellbeing” at The Silo, and Nourish New Milford will add to that vision.
In the coming months, The Silo will host open mic nights geared towards teens, music and art events, and provide a gathering place for the community. Since the start of the pandemic, they’ve hosted small gatherings such as marriages, celebrations of life, and barbecues.
Piovezahn said locals have told him that they feel at peace, “almost normal,” when they’ve been at The Silo during the pandemic.
Mayor Pete Bass recently held a livestream to talk about the initiative with Brower and Piovezahn.
“Anything or anybody that can help our town move forward, whether we’re feeding those in need, or helping create artistic programs, any of those things would be a definite benefit to our town,” he said.
Through their friendship, Brower has been able to convert Piovezahn on vegetables. He wouldn’t eat greens, but Brower convinced him to try sorrel.
“Now I crave that,” Piovezahn said. Arugula, sorrel, red peppers, eggplants.”
