Photos and Words by Anna Leachman
Max Farrar works to balance family life and the future of his organic farm. He and his wife, Davida Flowers, work together to run a commercial produce and flower farm while raising two small children.
13 acres of history sprawls behind a family home in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Tending to the land that was once belonged to his grandparents, Max Farrar can be found working tenaciously to care for his farm's veggies and greens. By using an integrated pest management system of traps and netting to keep harmful bugs out (without killing beneficial insects) and never spraying synthetic pesticides or herbicides, Majestic Greens Farm separates itself from most other commercial farms. Farrar stands by the benefits of praying over, speaking or singing to the plants to help them grow.
Maya Farrar asks her father (right) for his pocket knife to deliver back to her mother who requested it in order to unjam her flower press.
"The way that we farm is a little bit different from other producers … It takes a lot more human labor but you can taste the difference and customers will tell us that, there's a certain emotional satisfaction and gratification if you've had this relationship where you've cared for this plant for its whole life cycle and put in a lot of sweat equity.” -Max Farrar
“Growing your own food and being in a relationship with the land is a good way to gain and retain some independence from broader systems which can be really soul-sucking,” Farrar says. Before running the farm, he worked as a middle school teacher but felt spiritually called to take up farming. “Without realizing it, I felt a real deep sense of loss and disconnection that had to do with not having a relationship to my place and the natural world,” Farrar said, “so to be able to do this for a living, I can't put a monetary value on it, it's very important to me.”
Max Farrar sharpens a stirrup hoe in order to remove weeds on the side of planting beds while simultaneously eating an apple for a mid-morning snack. Further back on the property lies an apple orchard planted by Farrar’s grandfather which is not for commercial use.
Farrar moves landscape fabric off of a row of crops between two plastic tunnels which sit behind his home on 13 acres of land. “I remember visiting in the summer’s and mowing with my Papaw back here and that was it … it’s really amazing how generous and giving the earth and the land is with what it’s giving us now,” said Farrar.
Majestic Greens Farm started by converting a branch of the family’s garden to commercial produce production which branched out to several covered tunnels and a propagation house. In 2017, Farrar volunteered for two seasons at Nathan and Michelle Howell’s Need More Acres Farm to learn more about commercial farming in addition to reading books, watching youtube videos and asking questions to local farmers and vendors at the farmer’s market where at the time they were only customers.
In 2018, Farrar and Flowers established their business of selling produce at the Community Farmer’s Market in a partnership with Jackie and Larry Berry of Flourishing Herbs Farm. Thus began a CSA system, or Community-supported agriculture system, titled Growing Together Farm Share. The farm share option allows for community members to pay whichever membership fee they can afford to gain access to fresh local food each share week. Majestic Green’s mission is to create opportunities for people of all incomes to have access to healthy food.
In 2018, Farrar and Flowers established their business of selling produce at the Community Farmer’s Market in a partnership with Jackie and Larry Berry of Flourishing Herbs Farm. Thus began a CSA system, or Community-supported agriculture system, titled Growing Together Farm Share. The farm share option allows for community members to pay whichever membership fee they can afford to gain access to fresh local food each share week. Majestic Green’s mission is to create opportunities for people of all incomes to have access to healthy food.
Farrar and farmhand Jarod Hines work to move juvenile plants from their seed trays into new soil. Hines is one of two part-time crew members that help Farrar keep the farm running.
Farrar rinses turnips after a harvest Friday morning Apr. 29. The turnips aren’t usually a popular sale, however they sold out the next day at the farmer’s market.
“We wanted to get people connected back to the land and each other rather than only feeding ourselves.” -Max Farrar
In 2020, decided to redesign the garden and expand the business to include flowers. “We've thrived and flourished so much more now," says Farrar. “It's been a good metaphor for our marriage and our relationship to the farm, because we moved up here and the garden was a beautiful thing at first and then I sort of took over half of it for the farm business and she fell back from it. The whole thing became about business which was challenging and it sucked. Then a couple years ago she decided to take it back over and redesigned it. It's completely her domain."
When they first moved to Bowling Green, the farm was a “generative and exciting thing," Farrar recalled. Then as they began the commercial side of things, it was still those things but with the added challenge of their finances becoming heavily reliant on the success of the business.
When they first moved to Bowling Green, the farm was a “generative and exciting thing," Farrar recalled. Then as they began the commercial side of things, it was still those things but with the added challenge of their finances becoming heavily reliant on the success of the business.
Farrar hold his son, Alton Farrar, 4, while rearranging the radishes on the market booth shelves. “The key is color blocking,” Farrar says, “we as a species love organization and blocks of color… it makes them look more appealing.”
Farrar feeds a donut to his daughter Maya Farrar, 7 , while Alton Farrar rests his feet on the market booth's corner stool. With the constant hustle and bustle of the early morning market, sometimes a break is needed.
While the challenges were initially difficult to navigate, the community has been a huge resource and support system. Farrar says those relationships and connections are really how the farm has been able to make it. Additionally, the flowers have brought in more money and pollinators to the farm, which has really helped the land come alive. “It's amazing how much life has come into our space over the last five or six years," Farrar said. “It's like ok we're doing something right. So we're going to keep doing things the way we're doing it, it may not be the most cost effective way and doesn't necessarily make sense by the books or whatever, but it makes sense by the land."
