Member Spotlight: Brendon and Nina Shirley dig in the dirt

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Brendon and Nina Shirley are “growing it all”—veggies and fruit, chickens and cattle.

They also like bringing neighbors and family together to enjoy the bounty and create community.

And they show others how to go about doing it. Nina’s Dirt Academy account on Instagram attracted the attention of The Design Network. The result was the creation of two limited series: “Farm to Table” and “Nina’s Garden,” both of which can be viewed for free.

Moving to Jupiter

The Shirleys settled in Jupiter, Florida, after Brendon left Tenth Avenue North following a nine-year stint with the group playing keyboards. The couple, married in 2015, moved to a 10-acre plot north of the Palm Beach area and refurbished its living quarters. After they dealt with the property’s fire ants, flooding, uneven ground, and worn-down housing, Nina took charge of plotting the gardening areas and planning the citrus groves. The Shirleys then designated 5 acres for a cow pasture.

“For someone in the Midwest, calling this a farm would be comical, but around here everybody calls it ‘the farm,’” Brendon says. “It’s more of a homestead, functionally.”

Ready for growing

Nina was more than prepared for the effort. She had studied agro-ecology in college and was already teaching people how to grow their own food better through her Dirt Academy and “Gardening with Nina” online course.

“Starting when I was in college, I loved organic gardening,” she said. “We grew our own food in Nashville and had chickens. Brendon also had gardened before. Then it became my business, The Dirt Academy, and I started helping other people grow food at home, mostly by building gardens in people’s backyards. It turned into a fun business.”

The first goal of the Shirleys’ farm is to be able to supply and preserve most of their own food, then to be able to expand that so they can share with friends and family. Summertime is fruit time thanks to their tropical trees, while “Winter is when our annual vegetable garden, with greens and herbs, is more abundant,” Nina said.

“We got our first rack of bananas a couple weeks ago,” Brendon said. “We’re pretty excited about that.”

They were getting plenty of fresh eggs from their chicken flock until a raccoon recently got to the birds. They’re now in the process of building another flock, with birds for meat and eggs.

Watching River grow

The Shirleys’ pleasing personalities and familiarity with media made creating the two TV series easier. “Farm to Table” was primarily filmed in October 2020, just a few months after their daughter, River, was born. The six 30-minute episodes give insights into the Shirleys’ personal story, some farming and gardening basics, and the challenges of starting a homestead.

“Our baby was 4 months old when we filmed 'Farm to Table,'” Nina said. “It’s really sweet to have that for our family, where we can look back and see how far the farm has come and how much our baby has grown.”

The series also shows the roles that Nina and Brendon each play on the farm.

“I’m more of the utilitarian ‘let’s get food from the yard’ kind of guy,” Brendon said. “Nina makes beautiful outdoor living spaces that are ideal for having gatherings and helping people really enjoy the outdoors. She brought the brain and science to the equation as far as soil science and ecology, and also aesthetics.”

“Farm to Table” is also a “lifestyle-driven gardening show that tells the story of how we started our homestead,” Brendon said. It also details the development of the farm.

“Nina’s Garden,” on the other hand, is more practical. Filmed in February 2022, the series offers gardening tips and tricks such as pest control and irrigation in the mostly seven-minute episodes. The last of the nine episodes features a 30-minute showcase of an installation Nina did for music artist Francesca Battistelli. Nina called it “a fun episode to create.”

Life after Tenth Avenue North

Brendon (you can follow him on his Instagram account here) has had little trouble adjusting to life after nine years in Tenth Avenue North. He still plays keyboards at the Shirleys’ church. And, while he enjoys listening to new music, the tunes around the Shirley house these days are mainly in the realm of “B-I-N-G-O” and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” for his 2-year-old audience.

“I feel grateful that I was able to play music full time, music that had weight,” he said. “I’m grateful I had the opportunity to travel and do ministry for that many years. The camaraderie was a special part of it, being on a mission with brothers in Christ. I really enjoyed it but am also very glad to be sleeping in my own bed every night now.”

He was involved in nonmusic activities even before leaving Tenth, having started a real estate career in Nashville.

“What it comes down to, ultimately, is I help people with shelter and Nina helps people with food,” Brendon said. “I like helping people find a haven where they can be recharged and also invite others into. The times when I feel like I’ve experienced heaven on earth most is when people are gathered in a home or in a garden where they can enjoy each other’s presence and connect. Those are definitely factors that drew me to real estate.”

Brendon’s tendency to “geek out on macroeconomics” helps him guide people through the buying and selling process, even in tumultuous times.

"Understanding the big picture of where the housing market is and where it could be going can be complex and daunting," Brendon said. "I enjoy helping people navigate the process and hopefully help bring some perspective and peace to the mix."

He said he’s hoping supply chains recover so that, as the housing market slows down, “hopefully, prices come to a more reasonable level.”

Growing community

Community is a big thing for the Shirleys, who both give to and benefit from their neighbors.

One example came after Hurricane Ian grazed the area in September 2022.

“I texted some of my best friends and said, ‘Hey, bring your kids for cleanup!’” Nina said. “Kids were off school because of the hurricane. I said if anyone wants to bring your kids for some farm chores, bring them on over, and everybody showed up. We cleaned up the whole farm in two hours.”

“The community aspect helps the farm not to feel overwhelming and makes it worth it for us,” Nina said. “It’s a very picturesque moment when we can cook a dinner with ingredients from the garden and host our friends and family. Everything is worth it when we share it with other people.”