He Grows the Vegetables Chefs Fight Over - Meet Farmer Lee Jones

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 (Upbeat Music)

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Sylvia
 Does the word sustainability make your eyes glaze over? And what the heck is regenerative farming really all about? And do you care? Well, you should. Today on "Supper with Sylvia", we're talking to Farmer Lee Jones. And trust me, you've never met a farmer like him with his signature red bow tie and overalls.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 On my best day, I couldn't put a three piece suit on and look nearly as handsome as Curtis Duffy.

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Sylvia
 He's funny, he's passionate, and he's changing the way we think about food farming and what it really means to eat with the seasons.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 When asparagus is in season, Sylvia, we should eat it three times a day. When it's out of season, we should lust for it for 10 more months.

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Sylvia
 Farmer Lee's known for teaming up with world-renowned chefs, people like Jose Andreas, to create and grow incredible produce.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 The symbiotic relationship of chef and farmer working together is so much more powerful than the chef working by themselves and the farmer working by themselves.

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Sylvia
 You're gonna hear how losing and rebuilding the family farm made his vegetables even better and his passion even stronger, shaping everything from the flavor Top Chef's crave to his mission to make sure what we put on our plate is truly good for our bodies. And a warning for you here, this episode might totally ruin you because you're going to become pickier about your veggies. Sorry about that, but also you're welcome.

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Mariano's 
 At Marianos, we love how every product has a story and some of the best stories come from right here in Chicago.

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Mariano's
 That's why we started We Love Local. It's our way of shining a light on small businesses and farmers and food makers who pour their hearts into what they do.

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Mariano's 
 When you see a local item on our shelves, you know you're supporting someone's dream and keeping our community strong.

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Mariano's
 From family recipes passed down for generations to brand new ideas born in neighborhood kitchens, We Love Local brings those stories to your table because when local thrives, we all do.

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Mariano's 
 Marianos is a proud sponsor of the Supper with Sylvia podcast.

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Sylvia
 Farmer Lee Jones, how are you my friend?

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Farmer Lee Jones
 I am just exactly right. A nice cool crisp fall morning.

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Sylvia
 Oh my gosh, look at your bounty. Okay, I just wanna start by talking about, I was just at the chef's garden about three weeks ago and it was, I was only there for 24 hours Farmer Lee and I'm gonna be honest with you, it was a highlight lifetime experience I will never forget. Thank you so much, incredible.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 It was a highlight for us to have you there even if only for 24 hours. The chef's garden is booming and bustling but you know what makes it special and the people and especially the visitors. It was such an honor to have you on the farm.

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Sylvia
 Well, thank you was an honor for me and for those of you who are just now learning about Farmer Lee Jones, he is responsible for an incredible farm and the chef's garden and the culinary vegetable Institute and we're gonna learn all about that and so much more today. Wow, look at this. So you, we're talking to you right now and it's September. By the time this airs, it's gonna be November but right now what is in peak and what's gonna be in peak in November?

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Farmer Lee Jones
 Well, you know, first and foremost, it is a family business. My father and mother started the farms,

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Farmer Lee Jones
 you know, and my brother and I run it today. So it's not anything that I do on my own and the team members here on the farm are really, we couldn't do what we do without an amazing extended farm family. So I don't wanna take all the credit because it really is a family effort than an extended family. But you know, we really focus Sylvia on seasonal sensitivity. I believe that guests at the restaurants, guests at farmer's markets, just folks in general are more in tuned and savvy and interested in seasonal items. And I think that there's such a natural way to be fed. The fall crops are really starting to merge. This is the time of year where we still have peaches which is the last week for peaches. Yeah, we're starting into the early apples. And so you're seeing that transition stage, but it's that sweet spot of the year where you've still got the sweet corn and you still got the green beans and some of the summer crops. But yet we're starting to get into the delicatas and the butternut and the acorns wash and the Cinderella pumpkins and the pie pumpkins and the potatoes. It's just a wonderful spot in the year where you kind of get the best of all world right now.

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Sylvia
 And it's so delicious. Your vegetables and your fruit, you sent me home with some peaches. I ate a bunch of them. And one of my favorite things, I think I was telling you maybe that's why you gave them to me, is peaches, burrata, avocado, and balsamic. I could eat that all day long and your peaches were perfect. I couldn't eat them all. So I've cut them up and I froze them. And I think I'm gonna probably do some fun peach dessert with them.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 And how great is that gonna be come January when it's cold outside? And I think it's such a fun thing. We've kind of lost or let some of that earth or crap slip away. And I'm seeing young generation, the younger generation starting to have a new interest in capturing tomatoes if they're pink flavors and making great sauces that we can use all winter long and capturing the essence of summer and using it in later parts of the year.

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Sylvia
 Yeah, so true. I wanna talk about what makes your produce, your fruits and your vegetables so very special. So you're all about sustainability, regenerative farming. Explain what regenerative farming means to you and why it's so important, not only for you and your family as farmers, but for me and my listeners as consumers.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, we could talk for hours about this and it's something I'm very passionate about. Sustainable farming was kind of the buzzword

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Farmer Lee Jones
 for the last decade. But when you think about sustaining, it means to kind of hang on.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 When I was a kid in school, I couldn't do pull ups to save my life. And I grabbed a pull to the bar, at least, it looked like I was, you know, and I, you sustained until your finger slowly slipped away from the bar and you dropped in embarrassment and, you know,

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Farmer Lee Jones
 regenerative, if you think about that. You're rebuilding, you're re-growing, you're building the people, you're building the land. It's always been a farmer's goal to leave the land in better condition for future generations. But we have a saying, healthy soil, healthy vegetables, healthy people, healthy environments. And that's really the crux of what we're trying to do. Regenerative agriculture, we quit using the chemicals and the chemicals kill the biology in the soil. When you use fertilizers in the soil and the biology is not there to break it down into a form that the plant recognizes it, lo and behold, the nutritional levels go down. And that's what's happened, Sylvia. In a hundred year period, we've had an 80% decline in the nutritional level in vegetables and 80% decline in a hundred years. Now, hearing young, a hundred years sounds like a long time to you. I'm an old guy, 64 years old. And I recognize that a hundred years is really a short little clip in the big team of things. The reality is it's not sustainable. It's not gonna, it's not in any way, shape or form something that we can continue on. Regenerative is that you're rebuilding the soil, you're rebuilding the people, you're really working towards taking care of that environment. And that's really critical to us.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 You know, you've heard, and maybe you've even said,

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Farmer Lee Jones
 "I'm gonna go get some vitamin B, I'm gonna go get some sunshine, I need some vitamin B." Maybe you've said it tongue in cheek, maybe you thought it was a joke or just an excuse to go get in the sun. There's more truth to it than people understand. You see, if you get your mind around the idea that your body is a receptacle for energy from the sun, then it's not such a far stretch. We have a lab set up and what we do is we test the soil. Just like if you go and have blood work drawn, find out what the mineral levels are that are deficient in the soil. What's really cool then is once we identify what mineral levels are deficient in the soil, then we can plant crop specific. Not crops to harvest to take the market, but crops to harvest the energy from the sun. Because the clover, alfalfa, buckwheat, rye, vetch, we have 16 different species. Sylvia, two thirds of the acreage is committed to just harvesting the sun's energy in any given year. It's an unprecedented commitment. Even between the rows where we used to think needed to be weed free and clean, we're planting cover crops and harvesting that energy, feeding the biology, and it helped. Then the plants can pick that back up. We're seeing numbers as high as 300%, the 700% above the USDA average in nutrient, nutrient density, nitrate oxide. It's really exciting stuff.

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Sylvia
 Wow, you guys have that whole research facility out there. I want people to know like this farm that you have is so much more than just your vegetables. The people that you have working, the research that you're doing, you have your own bees out there. I mean, you are just trying to cover all of the bases. And when I was out there, it made me realize I need to think more about what I'm consuming every day. I need to think more about going to the farmer's market because it tastes so good. But why is it we all have such a hard time trying to go back to our roots, go back to the roots that you're talking about where a hundred years ago, things were so much purer and cleaner and so much better for us. We do need to get back to that. And that's what you're trying to do.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 It really is. And I think that shabbits are hard to break.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 It's about convenience. We're all busy, we're all multitasking and juggling a lot of things and you can build it into your routine. And I always like to encourage people go to the farmer's market but don't go with a list. And it's pretty exciting to, don't have that preconceived notion of what you're gonna buy at the market. Go and let the season dictate what's for dinner because things have been slow very quickly as the season grows and goes along. So go there and if there's a lot of hard enough to wash that day, if there's a lot of tomatoes that day, if there's a lot of green beans that day, let that dictate what's gonna be the dinner for the next three or four or five days or a week. And it's really fun. And of course that's when it's the best value is when it's the most wonderful.

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Sylvia
 Yeah, and you've got that beautiful cookbook in front of you and it's more than a cookbook.

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Sylvia
 I encourage everybody, I was looking at it and I thought, wow, this is great because if I'm going to the farmer's market and I'm not sure really what to do with these vegetables, your book is great. It's like a dictionary of, hey, did you happen to buy this? Well, guess what you can do with this? I love that you guys did that.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 Well, you know, it's not, again, it's not my book. It's the farm's book, Jamie Simpson, chef Jamie Simpson at the Culinary Vegetable Institute, which is a marketing arm and extension of the farm and his team, Dario, Perez and others spent three years putting this together. It's a book that's too heavy to take to the farm market. Yeah. I guarantee whatever you find at the farm market,

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Farmer Lee Jones
 639 pages. And one of the things that is of particular concern to us is food waste. We've all seen the commercials on TV, about 40% food waste. I believe it's understated. And isn't it unconscionable that we have that level of food waste and we have people right in our own neighborhoods that are going hungry? And it's a problem for us. It's a problem, it's an opportunity, I should say. But Jamie in the book, looks at ways to reduce food and maybe a little bit from a different angle. You know, you think about a Brussels sprout, yeah. Have you ever seen a Brussels sprout plant grow?

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Sylvia
 I have, and I was shocked.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 There are things, okay, for those of you that have not, they take eight to nine months. They get to be four, four and a half feet tall and they have beautiful leaves that come out. They're almost like umbrellas. There's a center stalk that's about as big as your wrist. Maybe my wrist is a little bit better than the Brussels sprout, but Sylvia's wrist, the Brussels sprout stalk, and then the Brussels sprouts grow off of that center stalk. And then you have these beautiful leaves that grow out.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 We picked the Brussels sprout. All this energy, all this love, all these nutrients have gone into growing this majestic plant and we don't even eat the leaves. Sylvia, I would defy you, if I blindfolded you or any of the listeners and had you eat collard greens and Brussels sprout leaves, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. They're in the cruciferous family. Same with broccoli and cauliflower leaves. All of those are edible. Why can't we utilize more of that plant? And Jamie really addresses utilizing the entire plant.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 You hear chefs, the old saying from snout the tail and to respect the animals. So if we're doing that, if an animal's gonna give up its life for human consumption versus sustenance, then try and respect that animal by utilizing all of it. But why aren't we looking at a plant in the same way? Because the environment is affected by how we use or how we waste all of these great ingredients that have to go in. Water alone. These plants are 95, 96% water. So utilizing and respecting the environment through utilization on the plant really resonates with us.

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Sylvia
 And this is why chefs from all over the world come to visit Farmer Lee in Ohio, here on Ohio, because of this passion that he has, because of this dedication that all of you guys have to what you're growing, I mean, you have some very well-known chefs, including Jose Andres, Rachel Ray, Daniel Boulud, our own several chefs in Chicago, which is how I got to know you, that actually come to your farm and the Culinary Vegetable Institute.

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Sylvia
 Tell me about this program and what's going on there that's bringing these chefs from all over the world to you. What are you doing with them?

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Farmer Lee Jones
 Well, first of all, we lost the farm when I was 19.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 And we were farming chemically, we were farming wholesale, large growth food stores. And as devastating as it was to lose the farm, it gave us an opportunity to hit the reset button, because it never really felt right to us. And chefs took us under their wing. And they said, "Look, it's your meal without chemical. If you grow, it's the varieties for flavor. If you grow for the flavor rather than the tons per acre." You see in the United States, we produce food cheaper than any other country in the world. We're very efficient at it, but we also have the highest health care. It's all about the varieties that are gonna produce the most ton per acre. And chefs, early chef like Charlie Trotter and chefs from Europe said, "You know, the flavor of the vegetables, John Louis Paladin and came to the Water Dade Hotel, Alon Dutath's and chefs that we would more recognize in Chicago today, of course, Grant Akins and John Fields,

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Farmer Lee Jones
 Curtis Duffy, and so many more. Chicago is just blowing up with great chefs.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 But you know, it's really about listening to those chefs and them saying, "Row product for flavor, grow it without chemical, do it the right way and we'll support you." And we took them literally because we were so desperate to survive in agriculture. And about 25 years ago, my dad actually had the idea, let's build a place where the chefs can come and stay and research and do menu development. Grant Akins before he opened to Linnea and next brought his entire team here. And they did menu development for three days on the farm. Go into the field, look at product that's available, make suggestions to us. The symbiotic relationship

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Farmer Lee Jones
 of chef and farmer working together is so much more powerful than the chef working by themselves and the farmer working by themselves.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 We can guess at what the chef wants. The chef may guess at what's available, but we get out here and they can get in the field. Then they can go right back and work with our culinary team and develop product. Jose Andreas, when he wrote the forward to the book and he sent it over on paper, I literally wept at the words that he said, it was so kind of him.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 Curtis Dussie was on that opening team at Linnea when they came here and did research before Linnea. Seven years later, he brought his opening team. And so it continues and we've continued to learn from each other and help each other. And it's just, we're so grateful to all the chefs around the country that it's helped us survive in agriculture.

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Sylvia
 I wanna talk about your dad because he's no longer with you, but obviously he had such a huge impact on your life. You briefly mentioned about the family farm. Let's go back.

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Sylvia
 Your family, your third generation farmer, right?

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Farmer Lee Jones
 Yeah, you know, we try and that's true, but we try and say first generation. There's an old saying,

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Farmer Lee Jones
 first generation built them, second generation maintained, and third generation blows them.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 And that's through history.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 So I wanna say-- You're changing that.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 That when we lost the farm, we hit the reset and we started over.

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Sylvia
 Okay, let's talk about, I wanna go back in time.

[01:19:03:18 - 01:19:19:03]
Sylvia
 You've got this family farm and your father has just put his blood, sweat and tears in this. You grow up on this farm, you and your brother, you're helping and then something happens and the farm is devastated. So take us back then, how old were you?

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Farmer Lee Jones
 Yeah, I mean, and my dad didn't inherit a farm. He had a dream of the farm. He went to work right on this farm that we're at today at 14 years old, working for a very progressive vegetable farmer.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 And I don't know how they were able to pull it off, but mom and dad bought the farm in the late 60s from him.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 Mr. Nichols had no children that wanted to take over the farm and my dad learned a lot from Mr. Nichols and he continued on in the model that Mr. Nichols had. And he was supplying chain brokerage stores. Maybe some of the listeners remember A&P, the Atlantic and Pacific Tea companies, Kroger, Big Bear, Pick and Pay, supplying large brokerage stores. It was high volume, low margin.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 You sold very, very with minimal pricing or margin, but you sold a lot of it.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 I don't know how many listeners are aware of the interest rates today. They're around 6.5%.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 You're borrowing money from the bank for a house. It's about 6.5.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 The economy got turned upside down in the late 70s. Jimmy Carter was there, interest rates hit 22%.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 So you were borrowing money from the bank and paid 22%. That alone is a tough thing.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 Then we had a hailstorm.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 And you would borrow the money from the banks in the winter and buy the seeds and buy the fertilizer and buy the containers and pay for the neighbor until your crops started coming in. It's about the first of July, 300 acres of cabbage, 700 acres of sweet 20, 60 acres of zucchini squash,

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Farmer Lee Jones
 1200 acres of fresh muffin vegetables, all in zest. Money borrowed from the bank to get that crop to back in it. The hailstorm came in and it was so widespread, it wiped out every field on the farm.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 Now you can replant, but you have to invest more money. We finished the year out, but it was over.

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Farmer Lee Jones
 And in 1983, I spent at 19 years old and watched a lot of my mother's cars,

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Farmer Lee Jones
 every tractor, all the land, the home, most of the living land.

[01:21:47:14 - 01:21:49:18]
Farmer Lee Jones
 It was a rough time.

[01:21:50:21 - 01:21:54:16]
Farmer Lee Jones
 And he jokingly saying we were too stupid to know that we couldn't start over.

[01:21:55:23 - 01:22:07:02]
Farmer Lee Jones
 So we did, but there were no banks. I mean, it's just, there's a book right in that period. I mean, it was survival mode, but we met a chef.

[01:22:08:03 - 01:23:12:17]
Farmer Lee Jones
 We knew nothing about the culinary world. We knew nothing about chefs. And as a woman, we started back at farmer's markets because it was the only place we knew to be able to start over. We can take it to the market and convert it to cash. And then we take that cash back to put it back in the farm and just, and we met a chef. Her name was Iris Balen Brody. And she had trained in Europe. And she said, you know, if you did so for the flavor for all of that chemical, I think there would be enough chefs that can support me. But Sylvia, we were so desperate for a way to survive in agriculture. Where was this woman giving us a little limer of hope that maybe there was a chance for his family farm in America yet today because Earl Butts, the secretary of agriculture, his message at that time was get big or get out. That was his method. Tear every hedgerow out, rip all the wood out, lamp every field, get big or get out. And that was the message that was being told to every farmer. And here was Iris, a tiny lady

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Farmer Lee Jones
 with a chef's jacket on with a big message.

[01:23:17:20 - 01:23:39:11]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Little bit of slavery, little bit of chemical, jeweled the right way to listen to the chefs. The chefs can be your friends. Somebody said, teach us. We listened. And she introduced us to another chef and then another chef and then another chef. We found the way in the European chefs really were looking for quality products, flavorful product that they couldn't find in the US.

[01:23:40:12 - 01:23:56:03]
Farmer Lee Jones
 And then of course, Charlie and Amos Keller and Danielle Belune and Alon de Kock and John Bourke-Boulwerkin and Ritz Carlton chefs. And four seasons and just so grateful to have the privilege of getting to work with chefs.

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Sylvia
 And you were growing things you probably never expected. I mean, squash blossoms and now some of the things that you have are not things that you would have originally even thought about planting on your farm.

[01:24:08:01 - 01:24:24:05]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Well, you know, that's exactly right. And at Sizeless we would have never thought about it. My dad was an expert zucchini grower, seven and a half to eight inches long. Two and a half inch diameter, 20 pounds in a carton. 88 cartons on a pallet,

[01:24:25:06 - 01:25:02:06]
Farmer Lee Jones
 18 pallets on a semi all day. Shift them. And here's Iris asking for a zucchini the size of your pinky with a blue monitor. When I first came home and told my dad about it, he just thought that the lady was nuts. You know, I came home, "Dad, this lady wants a zucchini, but she wants it to pick up three inches long with a blue monitor." We knew that you waited until the zucchini got bigger and the balloon fell off. Little did we know, she knew way more about this than we did. You know, out in front of every man is a smarter woman teaching them what to do.

[01:25:03:07 - 01:25:03:08]
 (Laughing)

[01:25:03:08 - 01:25:10:11]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Here is a great example of being smart enough to be quiet and listen. And she guided us in a good path.

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Sylvia
 This is a great place to take a break and we'll be right back.

[01:25:18:04 - 01:25:28:16]
Sylvia
 If you're enjoying "Separate with Sylvia," please like and share with family and friends. And also leave a comment. We love and need your support. Thanks for listening to "Separate with Sylvia."

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Sylvia
 So slowly you start rebuilding this farm. Now you told me a story that broke my heart and made me happy at the same time about how you would drive by every day, your family farm that you guys had to sell because you couldn't afford to keep it anymore. And then all of a sudden you find out that family farm is gonna be up for sale again. And your goal and your brother's goal, your family's goal was to get that farm back for your dad, right?

[01:26:03:07 - 01:26:11:21]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Well, you know, a lot of times the farms don't really go up for sale publicly. It's sometimes it's like,

[01:26:13:03 - 01:26:16:12]
Farmer Lee Jones
 and usually the farms sell about once in a generation.

[01:26:17:16 - 01:26:42:05]
Farmer Lee Jones
 And somebody's farm, the grandfather promised somebody else's grandfather, which neither of the grandfathers are even here, but the farm obligates that commitment that the grandfather made. And so there was no commitment that this was the family that took the farm over when we lost it. And they said, they called in the middle of COVID, which the timing wasn't great. And so, you know, we're ready to retire.

[01:26:43:10 - 01:27:21:11]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Are you interested in buying the farm back? Now I secretly had driven by it every day and he said that someday we could get a fast switch. He helped us plan it, how we could pull it off because of the big move during COVID because 60% of the business they said here in the last three and a half days because we were a hundred percent restaurants selling just the restaurants around the country. We shipped as far as all 50 states and they shipped some product in Duval and Pong and Dubai, but direct FedEx from the back door of our farm to the chefs and we built our relationship with chefs.

[01:27:22:21 - 01:27:26:00]
Farmer Lee Jones
 And so we strategized how we might pull that off.

[01:27:27:05 - 01:28:00:08]
Farmer Lee Jones
 And, you know, my dad helped us plan how we could pull it off. Unfortunately, we lost him about 60 days before the deal was a fight. He knew that it was happening, but I really wanted him to be able to walk that farm again. It was a shameful time. He felt like he failed the family. It was an embarrassment in the community. There's no secret when you lose it. Everybody knows that your soul is out there bared for everybody to spit on. And some of them did.

[01:28:01:13 - 01:28:03:16]
Farmer Lee Jones
 You find out who your friends are when you're down and out.

[01:28:05:00 - 01:28:08:20]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Anyway, we're grateful that it all worked out the way that it did.

[01:28:08:20 - 01:28:14:11]
Sylvia
 And he knew though, even though he passed away before it was official, that must've made you feel great.

[01:28:14:11 - 01:28:40:15]
Farmer Lee Jones
 And, you know, he's safe and he's gone, but Sylvia, I mean, I feel this presence here every day. We have these things called young visions that he drilled into us and, you know, they run in my head all the time. All of us is smarter than one of us. You can be on the right set of tracks and still get run over if you're not moving fast enough. You have to continue to make mistakes in a faster rate than the competition.

[01:28:41:22 - 01:29:04:08]
Farmer Lee Jones
 You know, and he believed in mistakes and he believed in our team being, having the freedom and the luxury to make mistakes. She kind of tries stuff. A lot of it's gonna fail, but he would also say, "You damn well better learn from it." So make the mistakes. Have the liberty to make those mistakes, but learn from those mistakes and then move forward. And so we feel his presence here, but they solved it down.

[01:29:05:09 - 01:29:16:18]
Sylvia
 That's amazing. And I love you. You also told me that when you went back, when you finally got your hands back on your old family farm, that you found some things that were leftover, right?

[01:29:16:18 - 01:29:19:10]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, my brother and I- How many years

[01:29:19:10 - 01:29:20:14]
Sylvia
 later were we talking about?

[01:29:20:14 - 01:29:21:18]
Farmer Lee Jones
 40 years.

[01:29:21:18 - 01:29:24:05]
Sylvia
 40 years. Tell me about that.

[01:29:24:05 - 01:29:29:01]
Farmer Lee Jones
 We wouldn't come on the farm until it was officially titled and born in.

[01:29:30:12 - 01:29:33:14]
Farmer Lee Jones
 I literally had not set foot on the farm since I was 19.

[01:29:34:20 - 01:29:36:19]
Farmer Lee Jones
 And I'm 64 now.

[01:29:37:22 - 01:29:42:02]
Farmer Lee Jones
 But we bought it back five years ago.

[01:29:43:02 - 01:29:45:16]
Farmer Lee Jones
 So 39, 40 years, you can do the math.

[01:29:46:18 - 01:30:13:19]
Farmer Lee Jones
 We went up, we walked the farm, and it was so surreal because of these flashbacks of visions of things were 40 years earlier. And we went into a loss that was hard to get to, probably why they were still there. But my dad operated under the label of Bob Jones there in the quarter in the lot for six brand new unused 40 year old Bob Jones farms boxes.

[01:30:14:19 - 01:31:35:17]
Farmer Lee Jones
 And a little bit further back, there were four baskets that said Charles Nichols Farms. And that was the fellow that my dad went to work for. And those were 60 years old. So it sort of bridged it, bridged the gap. Look, we don't tell this story for people to feel sorry for us because we're not looking for sympathy. We believe God had a different vision for us. And he said, hey guys, this is the direction you need to go. This is the direction the country needs to go. Some of us it takes a little bit bigger stick upside the head than others. And it was a pretty good thought. We will all admit that it was a hard thumb, but he needed to redirect us healthy soil, healthy vegetable, healthy people, healthy environment. Take care of the land, take care of the people, take care of the environment. It's the corruption we are. One of the things we did in the middle of COVID because of 60% of the businesses disappeared overnight because the restaurants were 100% of our business. We launched a nationwide home delivery and individuals could buy product and have safe, healthy, clean food shift directly to their front porch or back porch or wherever. Or if you weren't doing okay and you had the means and you can help somebody, you could ship a box to somebody.

[01:31:36:17 - 01:32:00:16]
Farmer Lee Jones
 You have an aunt in Tampa and she already has three of everything. It's like, oh my God, the holidays were here. What am I gonna get her? She has everything. Give her a subscription to a box of veggies and says, I care about your health and your wellbeing and your livelihood. And here's a box of vegetables that'll come once a month directly to your door from our farms. And what more can you do that says I care about you?

[01:32:00:16 - 01:32:03:02]
Sylvia
 So it's kind of a cool- They're beautiful.

[01:32:03:02 - 01:32:04:01]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Thanks.

[01:32:04:01 - 01:32:31:00]
Sylvia
 Yeah, those curated boxes that we are lucky enough to order to our homes. Now I want everybody to go on your website because your website is spectacular, but you can order the boxes. And I also love the honeycomb that's offered, but I wanna go back to your story because what you were describing going back to the farm for the first time and you're 19 years old and you go up that loft and you see the original boxes, I started getting goosebumps because,

[01:32:32:08 - 01:32:35:15]
Sylvia
 I mean, you came full circle. Describe that moment.

[01:32:37:08 - 01:32:43:20]
Farmer Lee Jones
 You know, and if there were ever a need for a name of a farm, I would say it would be full circle farm, right?

[01:32:46:08 - 01:32:47:12]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Yeah, I mean, cheerful.

[01:32:51:14 - 01:32:58:11]
Farmer Lee Jones
 It's just hard really that describe the emotions that go through your mind and your heart.

[01:32:59:20 - 01:33:00:22]
Farmer Lee Jones
 It's to know that,

[01:33:02:00 - 01:33:05:14]
Farmer Lee Jones
 it was like we were back in our rightful spot,

[01:33:07:09 - 01:33:23:16]
Farmer Lee Jones
 that there was a disruption and I think we all get disruptions in our lives and ultimately we stay our forces and we keep following the path. There's a lot of ways to get derailed. And sometimes we all do get derailed. I think farming is such a,

[01:33:25:03 - 01:33:26:23]
Farmer Lee Jones
 it's a similar path to life.

[01:33:29:02 - 01:33:59:21]
Farmer Lee Jones
 You know, on an old fever level and that you stay your course and ultimately you're led back and it was a sign that, yes, you're back on the right track and you needed to go this way through the things you needed to learn about yourself and how life is a world that you needed to take this excursion. And so it's been a long, hard journey but I wouldn't have been afraid of it.

[01:34:01:00 - 01:34:02:17]
Farmer Lee Jones
 I think that it's the way it was supposed to be.

[01:34:04:15 - 01:34:22:16]
Sylvia
 I love hearing this because to me, this is so inspirational for people who are listening because you took it as a positive thing, as devastating it was for your whole family. You redirected it and look where you are today. I love how you're saying it was meant to be this way. It just also gives people hope that,

[01:34:24:02 - 01:34:36:08]
Sylvia
 to stay positive and look forward, I mean, look where you are, this is spectacular. So I wanna go back to visiting the farm and I got my own hat, which I have that I can't wear because I have my headphones on.

[01:34:37:11 - 01:34:44:02]
Sylvia
 But you gave us the most incredible experience because so Farmer Lee and Chef Jamie do these dinners

[01:34:45:10 - 01:35:19:16]
Sylvia
 at your place at the Culinary Vegetable Institute. And it's always seasonal. And so this season was all about tomatoes. I love tomatoes. I love your tomatoes. It was several courses. It started with a, if you wanted, we did the pairings and it started with this incredible tomato martini which I've never had a tomato martini and then ended. We went through the savory and then ended with a sweet tomato dessert. It was incredible.

[01:35:20:21 - 01:35:28:12]
Sylvia
 What an experience. Let people know who are listening. If they wanna come out, how can they take part in these dinners and how often do you do them?

[01:35:28:12 - 01:35:46:16]
Farmer Lee Jones
 We do the dinners once a month and they're open to the public. We do events in between. We're not a restaurant that's open every night which I think makes it more special because it's a featured event. And we really wrap our minds around seasonal sensitivity.

[01:35:47:22 - 01:36:02:00]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Tomatoes. It was really the best of the summer season of the tomatoes and looking at a tomato in ways that you would have never dreamed of thinking of a tomato before. And so we follow all the way through all the seasons.

[01:36:03:12 - 01:36:19:22]
Farmer Lee Jones
 I think that Jamie did first one month a few years ago in the dead of winter and we probably won't go back to parsnips. It was amazing. I had a parsnip ice cream that was incredible. Wow. That being said, it was a tough sell to get people to come out

[01:36:19:22 - 01:36:22:15]
Farmer Lee Jones
 and say, we're gonna celebrate parsnips.

[01:36:22:15 - 01:36:24:22]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Come on out. It's a parsnip dinner.

[01:36:25:22 - 01:36:29:18]
Farmer Lee Jones
 But you can actually, there's an Airbnb.

[01:36:31:04 - 01:36:35:17]
Farmer Lee Jones
 You can stay and have a farm experience. You can come to the farm market.

[01:36:36:18 - 01:37:07:13]
Farmer Lee Jones
 And this weekend, I think that we actually have some tours going into the Apple worker with Peckey. But there's all kinds. Go to the Culinary Vegetable Institute and you can see events there at the Culinary Vegetable Institute. The Chef's Garden is the chefs-garden.com. And then underneath of that, it branches out and you can look at all the different opportunities. We love people. We love visitors. Come on out. Come experience one of these dinners. You wanna buy a certificate for somebody? Do it.

[01:37:07:13 - 01:37:45:20]
Sylvia
 I wanna come back out for the Christmas one. Okay, wait a minute. I cannot keep going here without asking you about your signature bow tie and your overalls because this is who Farmer Lee is. And I wanna tell you guys how I met him. So I follow Farmer Lee on Instagram and I love his social media. It's really fun. I highly recommend everybody follow him on social, the Chef's Garden. And I am at the Illinois Restaurant Association Show here in Chicago, which is, it's held here every year. And I'm about to leave. I've been there for two days. I'm exhausted. I'm about to leave. I'm going down the main walk area to head to grab an Uber.

[01:37:45:20 - 01:37:46:22]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Your feet are killing you.

[01:37:46:22 - 01:38:22:21]
Sylvia
 My feet are killing me and I'm done. I'm ready to go home, call a day. It's been two days. I'm exhausted. It's been so much fun. But who do I see? But this Farmer Lee, there he is with his cap and his red bow tie and his overalls. And of course I had to go over and introduce myself. I said, Farmer Lee, you don't know me, but this is who, my name is Sylvia Perez and I follow you on Instagram. I'm a huge fan. And that's how this wonderful relationship that I'm so excited has now started. But I want you to explain to everybody where the bow tie and the overalls come in.

[01:38:22:21 - 01:38:24:10]
Farmer Lee Jones
 It's great to brat.

[01:38:26:08 - 01:38:37:10]
Farmer Lee Jones
 It really talks about the history in America during the Great Depression and the Duff Pool. It was a tragic crime that a lot of farms were displaced. There's a scene on a Saturday night

[01:38:39:02 - 01:38:42:03]
Farmer Lee Jones
 and the farmers and all the people decided to have a square dance.

[01:38:43:10 - 01:38:47:16]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Square dancing was pretty popular. It's one of those lost arts today.

[01:38:48:22 - 01:38:52:20]
Farmer Lee Jones
 The overalls were worn and they were sworn and they were ragged.

[01:38:54:06 - 01:38:55:09]
Farmer Lee Jones
 At Sylvia they were clean

[01:38:56:15 - 01:39:02:09]
Farmer Lee Jones
 and they put white shirts and overalls and bow ties on and they maintained their dignity and they maintained their pride.

[01:39:03:12 - 01:39:04:14]
Farmer Lee Jones
 And they had a square dance.

[01:39:07:00 - 01:39:27:04]
Farmer Lee Jones
 And so everybody that ever remembered a demand fairs fund and going there as a child or an aunt and an uncle or anybody that ever dreamed of having their own farm or having their own land, raising their own eggs and raising their children there. Anybody that ever lost a phone, it's to represent the small guy.

[01:39:28:06 - 01:39:39:11]
Farmer Lee Jones
 I don't own another pair of pants Sylvia. If you see me at NRA, if you see me at church, I married Jamie and Morgan. I don't own another pair of pants. I have 18 pairs. What does your closet look like?

[01:39:41:06 - 01:40:12:08]
Farmer Lee Jones
 I'll take your picture. There's 17 pairs of overalls, well 16 since last nights are in the 30 clothes. I put plain ones on but I have 18 pairs of white shirts, 18 overalls, 18 red bow ties. There's an old farm saying that you can't make a silk purse out of a soudier. Meaning on my best day I couldn't put a three piece suit on and look nearly as handsome and fair and as duppy or a ghill and, you know, or a grant. So I, you know, you hit a point where, and I think this is where you know you're gonna be all right.

[01:40:13:16 - 01:40:15:15]
Farmer Lee Jones
 When we were kids, my parents, my dad

[01:40:17:15 - 01:40:37:09]
Farmer Lee Jones
 thought that a vehicle, a car was a poor investment. At every extra dollar they had, we would reinvest it back in something for the farm. So we always drove junk car. And if we were late for school and mom or dad would take us to school, we would ask them to drop us off a block before school at the Disney Rims Paris of the V as it was set by my parents' throws.

[01:40:39:05 - 01:40:48:03]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Today I kind of like to pull into a four season for a rich carol and then it'll beat up, pick up truck and jokingly tell the valet not to get my truck dirty.

[01:40:49:20 - 01:40:52:15]
Farmer Lee Jones
 When you get to a point in your life where you're okay in your own skin,

[01:40:54:01 - 01:40:55:01]
Farmer Lee Jones
 it's a good time.

[01:40:56:08 - 01:41:05:11]
Farmer Lee Jones
 I'm not suggesting it's a good time. It's a good time, like party time, but it's just, it's okay and people aren't gonna accept you for who you are or they're not. And if they don't. Oh, we love it.

[01:41:05:11 - 01:41:08:22]
Sylvia
 We love the look. Please don't ever change that look, okay?

[01:41:08:22 - 01:41:19:03]
Farmer Lee Jones
 I have a registered trademark with the US Attorney General's office. I mean, it's a pain. As you should. As you should, okay. Although you can rock those overall. I think I'm getting you a pair.

[01:41:19:03 - 01:41:26:22]
Sylvia
 Okay, I might have to. Next time I come out, I'm gonna have my own attribute to farm early, which is awesome. Okay, some fun questions for you, okay?

[01:41:28:00 - 01:41:37:21]
Sylvia
 I want you, these are just things, you know, maybe to roll off the tip of your tongue here. A first vegetable that you fell in love with. Broccoli.

[01:41:39:06 - 01:41:44:18]
Sylvia
 What'd you say? Broccoli. Oh, broccoli. I thought you said chocolate at first. Really, broccoli, okay.

[01:41:45:22 - 01:41:47:07]
Farmer Lee Jones
 I look like it's chocolate, right?

[01:41:47:07 - 01:41:51:13]
Sylvia
 No, broccoli, okay. The most underrated vegetable.

[01:41:51:13 - 01:41:54:15]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Mm, so difficult, cholera.

[01:41:55:18 - 01:41:58:11]
Farmer Lee Jones
 K-O-H-L dash R-A-P-L.

[01:41:58:11 - 01:41:59:16]
Sylvia
 And why is that?

[01:41:59:16 - 01:42:11:12]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Europeans love it. They know it, they embrace it. We just don't have much depth of knowledge about it. Going in the farmer's market and buying is a great vegetable.

[01:42:11:12 - 01:42:20:21]
Sylvia
 Okay, well, remember that, okay. So you only can do one of these things, overalls or red bow tie.

[01:42:22:12 - 01:42:23:20]
Sylvia
 You have to pick only one.

[01:42:24:21 - 01:42:25:13]
Sylvia
 Red bow tie.

[01:42:27:01 - 01:42:31:08]
Sylvia
 Okay, love it. And what is your favorite season on the farm?

[01:42:31:08 - 01:42:34:00]
Farmer Lee Jones
 The season we're in. Yeah.

[01:42:35:13 - 01:42:57:16]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Look, when asparagus is in season, Sylvia, we should eat it three times a day. When it's out of season, we should lust for it for 10 more months. Mother nature provides such a natural rhythm to what we should eat and what we can eat and what makes sense from a social, from an environmental, from a health standpoint. Embrace the season.

[01:42:59:00 - 01:43:05:11]
Sylvia
 I love that. If you could have dinner with one farmer from history, who would that be?

[01:43:12:00 - 01:43:21:21]
Farmer Lee Jones
 George Washington Carver, perhaps. Lots of history there. There's so many. I mean,

[01:43:23:20 - 01:43:34:22]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Elliot Coleman is down in Maine. He's still with us, fortunately, but one of the greatest days of my life of going into Maine and finding him and spending the day with him.

[01:43:36:08 - 01:43:39:04]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Brilliant, brilliant guy.

[01:43:41:02 - 01:43:46:00]
Sylvia
 Fantastic. So I also wanna ask you what we as consumers can do

[01:43:47:04 - 01:43:53:03]
Sylvia
 going forward to contribute to support farmers like you, the regenerative agriculture movement

[01:43:54:13 - 01:44:01:14]
Sylvia
 and the small farmers behind it. What can we as consumers do? What advice do you have for us to contribute as you are?

[01:44:01:14 - 01:44:11:17]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Well, usually the WIFFM, what's in it for me is really critical. What's in it for your family is

[01:44:13:07 - 01:44:19:00]
Farmer Lee Jones
 what buying stuff with conservatives in it just for your own family's health and wellbeing.

[01:44:20:04 - 01:45:20:03]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Embrace the seasons, buy direct, know thy farmer, understand where your food's coming from and buy it direct from a farmer. Don't go out. I would challenge you guys. Even in November, people think in Chicago or in Ohio, it's November, there's nothing. There's everything. There's all kinds of stuff in November. It's Thanksgiving season, the rutabaga, the parsnips, the celery roots, the turnips, the carrots, the beets. It's what we should be eating. The watermelon radish and all the winter radishes, the black radishes. There's so many things available and it's exciting because the season changes. Eat in season. There's lots of stuff in November and December right in the Chicago. I don't know when the farmer's market shut down. If you can't find it there, call the farm. Be on Instagram, farmerlyjones. Yeah. If you do a great dish from the farmer's market or from us or whatever, post it. Tag me. I'd love to see what you're creating.

[01:45:21:03 - 01:45:31:07]
Sylvia
 I love that. I love that. Okay, finally, if you could leave one legacy through your farm and your amazing book, what would you want that to be?

[01:45:32:08 - 01:45:40:05]
Farmer Lee Jones
 You know, I mean, I think that it goes back to what we talked about. And healthy soil, healthy vegetables, healthy people, healthy environments.

[01:45:41:10 - 01:45:47:01]
Farmer Lee Jones
 All of us are smarter than one of us. There's a sense of urgency to getting this right, right now.

[01:45:48:07 - 01:46:08:16]
Farmer Lee Jones
 We're not involved in it, but I would challenge everybody to watch a Netflix show called Kiss the Ground. It suggests that we have 60 harvests left if we don't change our ways drastically. This is important. I don't know that they can predict how many harvests there are left. I hope they're long about that. The point is there's a sense of urgency.

[01:46:09:21 - 01:46:16:00]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Connect with where your food is coming from and be mindful of what you're eating and what you're feeding the family.

[01:46:17:16 - 01:46:33:13]
Sylvia
 Such great advice. Farmer Lee, I want you to know, I am one of your biggest fans and I can't wait to come back out to the farm and to see you and to try some of your amazing things. And I will definitely be ordering. The website is chefsgarden.com, right?

[01:46:33:13 - 01:46:36:12]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Chefs-garden.com.

[01:46:36:12 - 01:46:56:06]
Sylvia
 Chefs-garden.com. And I want my listeners to just go look at this website because you will spend, you will get lost in it. There's so many interesting things going on there. Besides being able to order some of your amazing products. So such an honor and a pleasure to talk to you. Keep doing what you're doing for the small farmer, for the consumer,

[01:46:57:07 - 01:47:14:21]
Sylvia
 you guys, everything you do at Chefs-Garden with your team, some of the kindest people I've ever met. So please keep doing what you're doing and to continue to push this regenerative farming and to continue to push us to think about what we're consuming. So appreciate you.

[01:47:14:21 - 01:47:23:22]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Sylvia, thank you. Don't underestimate the color of spreading the word because we can talk to ourselves and so we'll go into faith.

[01:47:24:22 - 01:47:45:20]
Farmer Lee Jones
 It's a good word and the recognition of folks out there that are trying to do it right. And you getting that word out is so critical. Without you, we don't exist. I'm so grateful for having the opportunity to be on here with you today and just look forward to the next time you can come. Thank you for helping us spread the word. We're so grateful.

[01:47:45:20 - 01:47:55:07]
Sylvia
 Thank you, sir. I can't wait. I think I'm gonna dress up as Farmer Lee for Halloween in your honor. Great to see you and I hope to see you in person soon, my friend.

[01:47:55:07 - 01:47:57:08]
Farmer Lee Jones
 Remember, eat your veggies.

[01:47:58:08 - 01:48:12:15]
Sylvia
 Eat your vegetables, will do. This podcast is produced by Jennifer Waters, original music and audio editing, Donnie Cutting, promotions and marketing, Julie Lokun and The Mediacasters, social media, Magali Blasdell.