Community Highlights: Meet Musa Hasan of Bread And Butter Farms

Today we’d like to introduce you to Musa Hasan.

Musa, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Being raised on a farm and being a 15th generational farmer gave me the understanding and skills to grow food in a very sustainable way without the use of chemicals. I also married into a farming family. My wife (Micole) comes from a huge farming family from Alabama. Regardless of the fact that my wife and I both graduated from Tuskegee or the fact that I have a graduate degree in Cancer Biology, farming as a way of life seemed to be inevitable. I’ve worked for huge biotech companies such as Monsanto, as well as universities such as Harvard, The Ohio State, Emory University as a scientist. I’ve also worked for The American Cardiovascular Research Institute designing, testing, researching stents, patches, and electrophysiology devices. All of our training, research and upbringing has led us to one conclusion and that is, we must grow our own food. While I was working for Emory and Micole was working for CHOA (Egelston), we began growing produce (anything that didn’t require pollination) in our closets. It was easy for us given our farming background. As a matter of fact, we often joke that growing in our closets was the easiest time we’ve ever had growing food for ourselves; no pest, controlled temp, etc. lol. We grew enough to take care of all of our leafy greens, sprouts, etc. Our family, friends and neighbors began to benefit given the amount we were growing. We sought out more land. So, we moved from our apartment to a 1/2-acre plot and began to grow much more. We also began to sell. After a year, we sought out even more given the fact that we were selling and using the food at a high rate. So, we moved to 10 acres in Monroe, GA. And began farming 100%. And now we are Bread and Butter Farms LLC. A farm that creates a zero chemical, produce, fruit, and meat pipeline from our farm to food deserts around the Metro-Atlanta area.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been an easy road at all. We initially moved on our 10-acre plot of land off-grid. (No water, electricity, etc.). During that time, we had four young kids. This was not easy at all. Heating water over a fire, taking birdbaths. LOL… But we started slow. We focused on the soil and the soil food web. The soil food web is basically the microbial life in the soil. Increasing that life increases the availability of nutrients in the soil for the plants. So, we often use Compost Tea, or we will grow/culture mycorrhizae.

But we knew that this would create a sustainable model for us if we started very slow and didn’t take any loans out. As a farmer, that is very risky given the amount of pest that could potentially destroy crops overnight. Deer has always been an issue, but fencing is very expensive, so we often have to cover our crops with netting.

Racism has always been an issue. Especially when it comes to selling produce or acquiring knowledge that could benefit us as it pertains to grants or funding opportunities. We often lose out on good farmer’s markets or opportunities to be on boards etc.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Zero-Chemical Produce, and Fruit. This is our business model. We create nutrient dense produce pipelines from our farm to food deserts in the Metro Atlanta and surrounding areas.

Most farmers are either Organic or Conventional. We are neither because both types of farmers use chemicals. Either organic chemicals or conventional chemicals. And in some cases, they overlap. And in other cases, Organic farmers use more chemicals than conventional given the rate of degradation of the organic chemicals.

We do not use either and people who truly understand farming will call us either biodynamic or quantum agricultural farmers. We simply prefer zero-chemical or no-chemical farming.

We offer to produce fruit, our own in-house roasted organic coffee, organic butter (Blueberry maple, Garlic herb, Vanilla Cardamom), Free Range, grass fed, hormone free meats.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We have farm-shares that we are currently signing families and individuals up for. (www.breadandbutterfarms.com/csa)

Volunteers are always loved.

Donations have always helped us when comes to infrastructure, seeds, plants, etc.

Pricing:

• 1/2 share = 250
• Whole Share = 500

Contact Info:

• Email: farmers@breadandbutterfarms.com
• Website: www.breadandbutterfarms.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bread.and.butter.farm.to.table/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/breadandbutterfarms