Backyard Farmer
He raises rabbits, chickens, tilapia and fresh vegetables at home. He wants you to do it, too.
Hartford backyard farmer Travis Steward checks his kale plants inside a greenhouse he built behind his home in the southend of Hartford. Steward started with an egg that became a compact garden that produces eggs, vegatables, and fish to eat for his family and friends. Photos courtesy Michael McAndrews/Hartford Courant/TNS
By Ted Glanzer While there’s still plenty of debate swirling around the age-old question, Hartford resident Travis Stewart is certain what came first for him: the egg. Then came the chickens. The self-proclaimed Backyard Farmer on Preston Street, whose operation includes two raised-bed gardens with kale, mint and other vegetables; an aquaponic setup with 50-plus tilapia and duckweed; a hydroponic system growing Swiss chard, tomatoes and cucumbers, and a coop with 17 chickens and three rabbits, started five years ago when he and his daughter, Akilah, hatched an egg as part of a science project. Two eggs, actually. Those two chicks, Sunny and Moon, grew to adulthood and led Stewart and his wife, Kaysle Brooks, to build an 8-by8-foot coop and stock it with more chickens. What followed was a steady supply of eggs. “We offered some to some people, then we started selling the eggs,” Stewart said. “Friends of mine started coming to me to say they love the farm fresh eggs.”
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That’s when Stewart decided to make daily videos that provide people a window into what his life is like. “No tutorials, just about how I’m living in Hartford,” he said. Stewart and Brooks then expanded their operation into growing fresh vegetables in the backyard. Around that time, Stewart, a fit martial arts instructor, started feeling more and more fatigued. He also began experiencing piercing, unrelenting back pain. A visit to the chiropractor only made things worse. Finally relenting to his wife’s prodding to get checked out, Stewart learned he had multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. Though the diagnosis was shocking, he did not panic. “I was like, ‘OK, what do I do now?’ I have it. I can’t worry
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about it. I said, ‘What do I do now?’ “I’m on this path. I’m not going to fight it. I had cut everything [in the backyard]. We still had this gardening stuff.” So Stewart, 43, continued to focus on his garden as he battled cancer, which currently is in remission. He’s quick to point out he saw a terrific specialist and went through chemotherapy. But he also credits gardening with saving his life. “It’s magical; it’s spiritual,” he said. “You have a seed. You put the seed in the ground, and just by faith you know that with everything you did, it is going to produce and grow. If you do everything right, you don’t have to worry about anything. Just let nature happen. That’s beautiful.
BACKYARD FARMER Continued on page 14
SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2022
