PEOPLE OF INTEREST
The URBAN FARMER
Michael Meier, who traded business suits for overalls, has opened Ground Floor Farm, an urban farm and cafe in Downtown Stuart.
BY RACHEL CUCCURULLO
When you think of Downtown Stuart, the farmto
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table concept is not the first thing that comes
to mind. But in recent years Michael Meier has
helped to change that impression.
Meier, an urban farmer who was born and raised in Stuart,
had a fairly typical middle-class upbringing.
“I always felt like I had everything I needed growing up,”
he said. “I played outside, had friends and, thanks to my
parents, had a pretty idyllic, nice childhood.”
And while he wasn’t raised on a farm, his grandparents
did have a homestead on about 100 acres in western North
Carolina, just outside the town of Marshall.
“I never really considered farming as a career,” he said. “It
was just not part of my reality.”
Meier recalled that as a child, there was even a time when
he hated getting dirty and sweaty. He finds it quite ironic that
his daily routine involves just that.
Looking back, Meier’s time with nature, simple-living and
ANTHONY INSWASTY PHOTOS
wilderness at his grandparents’ place was the most “farmy”
experience he had. He thinks this may have influenced his
eventual move to farming.
Meier, who is a graduate of the International Baccalaureate
program at South Fork High School, did what many teenagers
do upon graduating from high school: He left home
to attend New York University in the heart of Manhattan’s
Greenwich Village.
Meier had big dreams of becoming a writer, an actor or
activist. But he also thought he might want to be a physicist
or work in technology.
“I was all over the place with my goals and dreams, but I
just knew I needed to get out of Stuart and go to the city,”
he said.
While attending NYU, Meier became interested in anthropology
and linguistics. He graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor
of Arts degree in anthropology. But just before graduating, he
was still on the fence about staying in academia. >>