Farmer B The Edible Plant
WHISPERER
BY RISA WILLIAMS MCMILLAN • PHOTO BY ROB KAUFMAN
He is a grower by trade by nature by day by night. He grows healthy, organic, and edible. The soil is his medium; seeds are his tools of bounty. You could say he has the Midas touch when it comes to growing edibles but in reality, to him, it is second nature; it is simply in his DNA. Brent Wearren, better known as Farmer B, is a third generation grower who has never worked a day indoors in his life and who has set up shop outside of his son’s health food café and frozen yogurt shop, Delisheeyo, off of Palmetto Bay road. Talking to Brent is an education every inch and plant of the way. He is a one-man operation who at any given time has over thirty different herbs, fruits, or vegetables growing in his garden. He calls it his Garden of ‘Hope’: H-ealthy, O-rganic, P-lants, E-volving. His secret? The three P’s: Perseverance, Persistence, Patience. Born and raised in Kentucky, Brent’s father had a commercial landscape company and nursery. One of his grandfathers was a propagator and ornamental plantsman and the other an avid gardener. “I hung out with my grandparents a lot,” said Brent. “I was fascinated with growing and always knew it was what I would do.” He worked for his dad in the commercial landscape business as a boy, but was drawn toward the growing. “There is something soothing about the musty smell of a greenhouse, the warmth from a wood stove, and a bunch of old guys sitting around telling stories and taking cuttings,” he mused. Brent went to Michigan State to study Horticulture and learned from the professor who wrote THE textbook. Among the many students, there were only 3 actual ‘growers’ in his class. “It’s a shame. We’re a dying breed. It’s why I teach workshops now. If I can influence just one kid, then it’s worth it,” he expressed. After college, he became partners with his dad in the wholesale deciduous and flowering tree nursery. They harvested from 1,100 acres that yielded 40,000 trees every year and shipped them out all over the country. The business made it through 2 recessions, but in 2012 the economy got the better of them and they decided to liquidate and pay all debts. When one door closes, another opens and Brent and his wife started over on Hilton Head where they had vacationed. He wrote up a resume, stopped by one garden center, was hired, and spent the next year acclimating himself to the people, the climate, and plant kingdom. Bored and with the itch to get his elbows dirty, Brent took over the landscaping outside of Delisheeyo which he transformed into a wonderland of healthy foods. The notoriety of his garden took flight and now Brent leads workshops and contracts with individuals and restaurants so they can share the earth’s bounty with their families and diners. 30
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