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Michael Russo

Michael Russo

Mike "Chef Mikey" Russo, former executive chef turned owner-operator of Chef's Harvest Farm LLC, a no-till urban market garden in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Jun 12, 2026

7:23
It's consistency.
7:25
Nobody else is willing to do it every week or nobody knows how to do it every week.
7:29
Like I got it every week.
7:30
You know what I mean? That's a huge thing.
7:32
If you, that's the biggest thing chefs want.
7:34
If you go up to a chef and you're like, yeah, I've got this product.
7:38
That's great.
10:18
He treats his farm as a platform that funds the rest of his business, YouTube, farm dinners, and eventually a restaurant.
7:23
It's consistency.
7:25
Nobody else is willing to do it every week or nobody knows how to do it every week.
7:29
Like I got it every week.
7:30
You know what I mean? That's a huge thing.
7:32
If you, that's the biggest thing chefs want.
7:34
If you go up to a chef and you're like, yeah, I've got this product.
7:38
That's great.
10:18
He treats his farm as a platform that funds the rest of his business, YouTube, farm dinners, and eventually a restaurant.
1:02
At this stage of your experience in farming, how do you feel about it? Is it hard? Is it tough? Are you burned out? Are you loving it? Is it amazing? Where do you fit on the spectrum of farm love?
1:18
So I think I'm a different person where like I thrive in the hard work.
1:24
Like as a chef, I was a cook.
1:25
That's hard work to begin with.
1:27
It's incredibly hard work.
1:29
Starting a farm from scratch is probably the hardest thing anybody could ever do.
1:35
It is near impossible.

58 MINS LATER

59:28
So it's not like you just made 30 grand at the end of the year, you made more money because you're, you can do other things related to the business, but not specifically farming.

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