When you hear the word “farmer” the mind conjures up many images. You may picture someone in overalls, checkered shirts, a silk tank top, baseball caps, sunglasses, tractors, and a few chickens running around. Sounds about right.

Where The Food Comes From visited NewsNation anchor and correspondent Elizabeth Prann and her husband Darren O’Day, who pitched 15 seasons in the Major Leagues and is now part of the Atlanta Braves broadcast crew, on their backyard farm at their luxurious Atlanta home in May. Liz first rose to fame covering the disastrous Deep Horizon oil spill in 2010; Darren had a career ERA of 2.59 (which is amazing) and was an MLB All-Star in 2015. 

Hold on a minute! A few these things don’t add up. First a farmer in a silk tank top? A farm located pretty much in the city of Atlanta? And Chickens?

When Chip first told me about shooting an episode in an upscale suburban Atlanta neighborhood I did have a few thoughts. Like, how big is the farm? What kind of homeowner’s association would allow chickens? And probably a few more. Well, I would soon find out.

We pulled up in front of this huge home with Darren standing by the stone gate to open the door and let us in. Yeah, people, this wasn’t a home like you and I think of — it looked like a small castle. And what I saw truly amazed me. There were no open fields, so hence no crops in the ground — it was just a backyard. What I saw was a farm being grown in pots, tower planters and trellises. I should have taken a picture directly from the gate, but I think I was in a bit of a shock by the immensity and beauty of it all.

And yes, there are chickens walking around. I asked Darren about being allowed to keep chickens and the neighbors’ reaction. It turns out not to be a problem at all. He keeps the chickens’ wings clipped so they stay in the backyard. My grandfather kept chickens and I always found it quite funny when I saw them in the trees — he didn’t clip the wings, so they would flap their way up there and roost. 

But keeping the chickens safe and happy isn’t always simple — there are predatory birds around, in this case hawks. Darren told a story of when one of the chickens was attacked by a hawk resulting in three, silver-dollar sized holes in her back. Performing home surgery, Darren was able to pour iodine on her back and stitch her up — amazingly, Elizabeth held her between takes for NewsNation from her basement studio (“Just don’t get iodine on my blouse or computer!” she told him). He made a joke that he was not going to bring a $7.00 chicken to the vet when he could do it himself. I get it. It is the principal of the thing. Sidenote: The chickens just love to eat the fresh kale the O’Days grow.

Let’s Meet Elizabeth And Darren

Our producer and host Chip Carter’s interview with Darren and Elizabeth took place in their backyard. The O’Days have made it a point to keep the backyard open for the kids to play, chickens to roam, and Hank and Gunther, the resident dogs, to run.

They met in 2004 at the University of Florida in an “Introductory to Speech” class – kind of ironic given the fact that she is a news anchor and he is currently a baseball commentator. They sat next to each other and, as they say, the rest is history. You will hear about this, their professional growth and more during the show.

There is one thing I feel compelled to add, so bear with me, and it is actually a shoutout to Darren’s folks. Some of you know my feelings about today’s youth and accountability. If you don’t, here is my two cents – it’s minimal. Darren was raised in an environment where accountability mattered.

Remember, Darren is a retired major league baseball pitcher. But he went to University of Florida on an academic scholarship – huh. Darren told us, “I wasn’t allowed to play baseball unless I did well in school.” Wow! More parents should really enforce this kind of attitude. Way to go Mr. & Mrs. O’Day!

Time To Checkout The Gardens

What I have discovered during my travels with the show and my own garden is growing anything is a tremendous amount of work. And it doesn’t matter if the crops are grown in the ground or containers. I think most people don’t realize this and once they find out give up.

The O’Days started gardening because they, “wanted the kids to know what goes in their bodies, even the eggs,” Liz says. And they believe, according to Darren, “Kids are more apt to eat what they grow.” The O’Days also love being able to introduce fresh fruits and vegetables to the neighborhood kids and tell their parents about how much they loved it.

Though Darren seems to be technically more the farmer of the two, it was actually Elizabeth who started gardening first. She dabbled with gardening in an herb tower and plastic pots while he was away on long road trips as a ballplayer. She must have had some issues because, with a smile and laugh, she said, “He fixes all my mistakes.”

Kids Say The Darndest Things

Whenever Chip gets the opportunity to talk to kids he jumps on it, quite frankly he is a big kid himself. Today 9-year-old Claire is the spokesperson for her and her 6-year-old brother Dane. Claire aspires to be veterinarian, loves her hip-hop classes and enjoys eating food from her own backyard. In fact, she thinks, “It’s pretty cool.” Dane contributed to the conversation in a different way. He would whisper his answers into Claire’s ear and she would translate. Kind of cute.

The topic turned back to the chickens. Well, apparently the kids get to name them. We have Noodles, Ketchup, Fries, Babebraham Lincoln, Amelia Chicken Heart (I think I got it right), and my favorite Kelly Cluckson. Fun fact: Elizabeth actually puts the chickens in their coops at night and locks them in. The coops have automatic locks and will open in the morning. Fun fact: Each chicken has their own coop but they all sleep together in one. Chickens. Who knew?

The O’Day children are each allowed a starter project in the backyard farm. Claire has opted to grow blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries. The boys swapped out blackberries with cucumbers. All good choices. Darren said that sometimes the plants get over-watered. I can totally see that. I don’t know a kid who doesn’t enjoy playing with water.

The Farm

Elizabeth and Darren gave us a tour of their farm. And Darren gave us a detailed description of what is going on. You will see it all in the episode, but in the meantime here are a couple more of my favorite photos.

I have alluded to growing my own garden but after seeing what is going on here, I had to ask a few questions. For starters, what type of soil and fertilizer are used? Darren explained they start with organic soil, fertilome – plant food that has fast and slow-release nitrogen, and cow manure.  So now my challenge is to find cow manure. Actually, that really isn’t a problem. I just don’t know how my neighbors, or me for that matter, would feel about the smell.

What really intrigued me are are the buckets dug into the dirt of each planter and, go figure, I had to ask. As it turns out they are worm buckets. Ugh – I hate worms.

What is the purpose of a worm bucket? It provides a natural fertilizer for plants using worms as a source of organic composting. Interesting, such a simple concept and the process seems to be easy. You take a plastic container with holes in it or cut out the bottom of a bucket. Add very wet shredded paper and coconut shell shreds to the bucket and combine. Once this is accomplished add red wiggler worms. Bury the bucket in your garden up to the rim – oh, please remember to keep the lid on it, it can get a bit smelly. You can be sure I am going to try this early next spring in my own garden. Because it clearly works!

You do need to feed the worms, but it is your typical composting stuff like table scraps, lawn clippings, coffee grounds, tea bags, and crumbled egg shells every couple of weeks. What do the worms actually do? They eat their food, crawl out of the holes in the bucket, release their excrement which fertilizes your soil, and go back into the bucket. Their crawling action even aerates the soil!

Sidenote: Elizabeth has a gorgeous diamond wedding band and kept it on when she was showing me the worms. Honestly, I think I had a bit of a heart attack. I mentioned this to her and she said it was no big deal. Yuck! I will wear rubber gloves. I don’t want worms crawling on my jewelry or my hands. 

It’s A Wrap

The shoot came to an end and with Elizabeth’s and Darren’s help, Chip closed the show. Cool note — this is the first time that anyone other than Chip has uttered closing line, “Out here, where the food comes from.” That’s how Chip has ended every show since the beginning. And now he let the O’Days carry that ball. Interesting.

My hope is that everyone will give home farming a try. As the O’Days prove, all you need is determination, a whole bunch of sweat equity, and time. I totally love Darren’s statement: “Anything you grow tastes better, whether it does or not.” I wholeheartedly agree and I’m sure you will too.