Introducing Farmer D

Happiness is a farmer friend and a truckload of compost. But this isn't just any farmer. This is mega-entrepreneur Farmer D. You may have read about him in the AJC or Atlanta Homes and Gardens or even on FoodShed Planet. Yes, he's the one that the AJC called the Organic Guru, and that I called the Horseradish Whisperer. You could also call him a small business genius.

Farmer D's specialty is creating visions of healthy food-producing components for sustainable communities. He started the farms at Full Moon in Athens (which is now the farm that supplies the restaurant Farm 255), Serenbe in Palmetto, Hampton Island Preserve in Savannah, the Trustees Garden Community Food Project and various school gardens in Savannah and elsewhere (and yes, he was even the one who started the children's garden at Zaban Park here in Dunwoody). What's more, he has a relationship with Whole Foods where they truck all their "green waste" to him and he turns it into organic biodynamic compost, which he then bags and sells back to farmers who grow food for Whole Foods as well as Whole Foods customers--a true closed loop. And there is another piece of big news to announce about Farmer D--but not for a short while yet, so keep checking in for updates! This new development will put Farmer D back in Atlanta (he is originally from South Africa but grew up in Sandy Springs) far more often than currently.

As Farmer D and I unloaded many wheelbarrows-full of his amazing compost into my garden the other day (okay, I mostly stood there chatting and shooting photos but he kindly offered that I was "keeping him company"), we talked about TNDs (traditional neighborhood developments--here is a link to a new one in nearby Norcross, plus a list of others in Georgia) and how there is a movement to incorporate a food component to some being developed nearby and around the country (and, of course, Farmer D is involved). And I got to thinking about Dunwoody (of course). We are virtually a local farm-fresh-food desert here in Dunwoody, with the exception of the small Spruill Farmers Market and Charlotte's Riverview Farms CSA farm box dropoff at Parsley's Catering. Wouldn't it be nice . . . ?