HEDGESVILLE, W.Va. — The “hum” of a honeybee hive is therapy for 20-year U.S. Army veteran Eric Grandon.

“There’s no anxiety, no depression, there’s no mindlessness. It’s all focused on the bees and what I’m doing with the bees,” the 50-year-old Clay County, W.Va., man said Monday at Geezer Ridge Farm near Hedgesville.

The farm in Back Creek Valley, which is owned by Ed and Cheryl Forney, is involved with West Virginia Warriors and Veterans to Agriculture, a unique program that uses farming and agritherapy to not only help veterans financially but to overcome the scars of war.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., toured the farm Monday morning with a contingent of state and federal officials.

The group included U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Undersecretary Lanon Baccam; National Center for Veteran Studies Director Craig Bryan; and representatives of the Small Business Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and West Virginia University Extension Service.

“This is a two-fer. You get the therapy, but you also get a way to grow a business,” Capito said during the tour, which included an up-close look at honeybees in one of the dozens of hives at the farm.

Through the MILCON-VA Appropriations Act for fiscal 2017, Capito is pushing for the VA to do an agritherapy pilot program, which would assist veterans with starting farms as a form of therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The measure passed out of a subcommittee earlier this month.

Disabled with post-traumatic stress disorder and Gulf War syndrome, Grandon said beekeeping gave him a purpose and direction at a time when he was “spinning” in circles.

“Agriculture has saved my life. I knew absolutely nothing about farming, and now I have a small commercial farm,” said Grandon, who did six tours of duty between 1985 to 2005.

Before meeting James McCormick, director of the program, about three years ago, Grandon said he was attending counseling daily.

“Now, I go every two months,” Grandon said. “I think that, in itself, is amazing. I see my doctor now, he asks about the bees, he wants honey. We no longer talk about how bad things are. It’s how great things are.”

McCormick said a lot of volunteers have stepped up to the plate and contributed to the program, which has brought in more than 250 veterans in the last few years.

Created by the West Virginia Legislature in 2014, the program requires the state Department of Agriculture, National Guard and Department of Veterans Assistance to recruit, train and mentor eligible veterans to develop and support it.

“It works because there’s a human touch and approach to it,” he said of the program’s success. “There’s something magical about working in agriculture, putting your hands in the soil. There’s something magical about breaking open one of these bee boxes and looking inside and seeing life — life is created.

“These people are used to being life-takers, and now, they’re life-makers,” said McCormick, who believes the program could be duplicated across the nation.

McCormick said the government’s veterans administration was teaching World War I veterans how to be beekeepers, but the program ultimately disappeared.

“Most of your honey and the things that were used during the war effort of the second world war were provided by World War I veterans, who had went through that program,” McCormick said.

‘Focus and confidence’

Baltimore native Nicholas Priet, 31, said he was scared of bees and knew nothing about farming when he heard about the beekeeping program, but decided to “give it a shot” after trying a number of other VA treatment programs.

“It’s given me focus and confidence,” said Priet, who was an Army medic with the 3rd Infantry Division for three years. “The way a (bee) colony works is kind of like the military — everybody has their job ... it’s all for the better of the colony. The colony will actually kill its queen (bee) if it’s best for the colony.”

Forney told Capito and those that joined her for the tour that he noticed Priet’s progress.

“Nick went from not being able to sit still in class to actually teaching and training (other) vets,” Forney said.

McCormick, a wounded combat veteran, said it was a struggle to let go of his career in the Army, which spanned 22 years, including 16 as an enlisted soldier.

“Coming home from war is never easy for anyone,” McCormick said.