What is urban farming? Jacksonville residents turn Murray Hill lawn to crop garden

“Kill your lawn” is the slogan of HOA nightmares. But for Jacksonville's Chandanko Farms, it’s a call to action for urban farming.

Michael “Mikey” Howell, 36, and Chandra Lukas, 44, began their garden-turned-farm in 2022 on the front lawn of their home in Murray Hill. It all started for them when they decided to start eating better and focusing on their health.

“It was months in the making of me becoming obsessed,” Howell said. “I said ‘I think we can start a farm in our home’.”

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Howell said he was a gardener on and off for most of his life, starting when he was a late teenager.

“We wanted to do a big garden, 50 potted plants in 5-gallon buckets,” he said. “I was enjoying doing it again and doing it a little bigger than in the past. I was a good gardener but didn’t know anything about farming.”

As he started building their farm, Howell also began working at Eartha’s Farm and Market to learn more about the process and make some connections in the farm world. The couple started attending farmers markets, first with a bowl of eggplants, a bowl of cherry tomatoes, a couple of containers of microgreens and a handful of peppers. Now, they attend multiple markets each week with a whole stock of different vegetable items and products ranging from pesto and salad dressing to pickled vegetables and vegan soups.

Their recipe-related products, Howell said, are “all Chandra’s brainchild.”

Chandanko Farms, which got its name by combining Lukas’s name with Howell’s Instagram handle: farmerdank904, celebrated a milestone of having its highest sales ever at a single market a few days beforehand, said Lukas, a Yulee native. She said it has been amazing how quickly they have grown.

“It is so meaningful that we are able to get any modicum of success because of this community,” Howell said. “I’m stoked and passionate, but also I’m new. I’ve never owned a business, Chandra’s never owned a business, but we’re only able to do this because of the people who give us their time and support.”

The dream now? A big farm “including lots of collaboration where a lot of people are able to make a real, substantial impact on the food system,” Howell said.

So far, he said, the farm has been “life-changing.”

“I’ve been in states of really poor health in my life — and pretty good health,” he said. “When I left rehab in July 2020, I was 320 pounds, and I’ve lost roughly 80 pounds from that. I feel the healthiest I’ve ever felt in my entire life.”

The couple even got engaged among their garden beds, Lukas said, adding to the importance of their farm in their lives.

“I have a farm in my house, in my front and back yards,” he said. “I love to talk about it. It’s literally the reason, I feel like, I’ve been put on the planet at this point.”

Growing food for their jobs isn’t the only way Chandanko Farms participates in the community, though. Howell also runs workshops to teach people how to start their own gardens, especially in urban neighborhoods, and offers farm tours.

“Just starting a garden is relatively easy, and it pays dividends beyond the eggplant you harvest,” he said. “Through planting and nurturing this garden over time, I know our garden is going to be so full of life, from bees to other animals. That’s equally valuable to any of the food production that can come from a garden. There is a lot more to feeling healthy than simply the input of the physical food that we eat.”

Howell said he wanted to make gardening and farming more accessible, especially for those who don’t know as much about the science and jargon aspects of it.

“It’s so impactful to support local farms and eat food from local businesses and buy from local businesses,” Howell said. “It’s more than just putting money back in the local economy or helping your neighbor pay their bills. The community is really what makes or breaks us.”

The couple was able to start farming full-time without other jobs in October and celebrated the farm’s second anniversary in late February.

“Hopefully the business will be able to do what it’s been doing and grow — no pun intended — naturally and organically,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville's Chandanko Farms brings urban farming to Murray Hill