PEOPLE OF INTEREST
tentially led to a career change. He felt he was working against
an important political identity that he had been creating.
“So, on the side, I was becoming more interested in food,”
he said. “I think that growing up in Stuart, I only had access
to places like Winn-Dixie or Publix and did not really know
what truly local food was.”
Meier said he was blown away after visiting farmers markets
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in the city and tasting vegetables such as Sungold Cherry
Tomatoes or Ruby Streaks Mustard Greens. These experiences
opened up an entirely new world to him. He became
inspired and began to romanticize farm life as being “modest,
honest and uncontroversial.”
“At that point, one side of my life was turmoil; politically,
socially, environmentally, I was angry at the system,” he said.
“Then the other side was food, farming, romance, simplicity.”
Meier left BBE in 2011, exchanging his suits and a successful
marketing career for farming and soil-clad overalls. He
saved his earnings, paid off his student loans and prepared
for a mini-retirement.
For several months, Meier explored the city weighing
his options. Then one day an announcement on Brooklyn’s
Heritage Radio Network caught his attention. It was an ad
for the first honey festival that was celebrating the legalization
of beekeeping in New York City. The festival was being
sponsored by Brooklyn Grange, an urban, rooftop farm.
“The light went off in my head and I thought, ‘Wow, there’s
a farm in the city?’ ” he said.
The possibility of learning about farming while living in
the city was enticing to him so he applied for a job and was
hired as an apprentice, living and breathing farming. He
was soon promoted to farm manager and helped open the
The food-and-event venue features a market-style stand stocked with local
veggies, artisanal goods, ferments and house-made sourdough bread.
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Pulling weeds from the quickly growing Salanova salad mix, is just one of Meier’s many jobs at the farm.