Sinclair360

His five-acre property in Miami Township doesn’t compare to the farm of his childhood, where his family raised beef cattle and grew crops of hay and corn. But for Johnson, it provides fresh eggs and vegetables and a chance to connect to his roots.

Johnson started his hobby farm a few years ago, after moving to southern Montgomery County. Since leaving the family farm for college in 1980, he has spent his adult life in cities and suburbs. But a couple years ago, he and his wife decided that they wanted a little more land, selling their home in Centerville and buying the larger property. He wanted room to keep animals and tend a garden.

Johnson personally built two small chicken barns, his chicken “condos.” He typically has 20 chickens and gathers 8 to 10 eggs each day. He also keeps a small flock of ducks, as pets. “I enjoy taking care of the animals,” Johnson said. “I enjoy problem-solving, making sure that they are disease free and comfortable, and getting good eggs.”

Along with the animals, he maintains a garden. Last year he grew carrots, hot peppers, peas, beans and 20 varieties of tomatoes. It makes him more aware of what he eats – and where it comes from. Much of the produce in grocery stores is shipped from overseas and often grown with methods that require copious amounts of energy. That’s fine when energy is abundant, Johnson said, but if the cost of transporting the food becomes high enough, there could be a return to the small local farm.

“When I was raised in rural, agricultural America on a family farm, you had a sense of nature,” he said. “You had a sense of the environment, a sense of where food comes from, of how food comes to us.”

So while he spends his days in downtown Dayton, he steals moments of agricultural reprieve at home. “It’s a nice workout and kind of a return to my roots.”

Tracy Staley is a Dayton-based writer whose work has appeared in the Dayton Business Journal, the Nashville Business Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader, among others.

By Tracy Staley

Tracy Staley is a Dayton-based writer whose work has appeared in the Dayton Business Journal, the Nashville Business Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader, among others.