By Scott Meyer | Photographs by Rob Cardillo
Executive Overview
On a steamy, early summer day at Spice Creek Farm in Brandywine, Maryland, rows of tomato plants stretch skyward, crying out for vertical support. D’Real Graham, who tends the 24-acre property alongside his life partner, Gail Taylor, methodically sets up a wire trellis to train the heavy vines and keep their fruit safely off the ground. Nearby, peppers and squash bulk up under the humid mid-Atlantic sun, while lush rows of kale and chard reach their peak productivity. As Graham drives in the structural posts, their Bernese Mountain dogs, Ruby and Ivy, happily nibble on stray leafy greens.
This pastoral scene represents more than just a successful harvest; it is the physical manifestation of a profound mission. Taylor and Graham are building far more than a farm—they are anchoring a resilient, equitable, and community-focused food system. After spending more than a decade operating a successful urban agricultural enterprise in Washington, D.C., the couple embarked on their first full growing season at this expansive rural site, located roughly 25 miles southeast of the nation’s capital.
Their ambitious vision—which encompasses healing degraded soil, establishing a regional food hub, supporting marginalized growers, and weaving together a burgeoning "Black Agrarian Corridor" in southern Maryland—has earned them national recognition. Spice Creek Farm was named a finalist for the inaugural U.S. Good Farmer Award, a joint initiative by the Rodale Institute and the Davines Group designed to honor outstanding agriculturalists who drive positive environmental and social change through regenerative organic practices.
Detailed Chronology: From Policy Desks to Rural Acreage
The path that led Taylor and Graham to the rolling hills of Brandywine is as unconventional as it is inspiring. Both came to agriculture not through generational farming inheritances, but through a deep-seated desire to create tangible, positive impacts in their communities.
Setting Down Roots
Gail Taylor spent her teenage years near Albany, New York, before earning a degree in U.S. foreign policy and Latin America from Syracuse University. Following stints working and studying in Guatemala and Chile, she moved to Washington, D.C., seeking a career in policy. However, the corporate and political grind left her searching for something more grounded.
In 2005, Taylor began volunteering at Deep Roots Farm, a 200-acre regenerative organic farm in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, managed by Gale Livingstone. Captivated by the immediate, life-giving nature of cultivating the earth, Taylor was hired by Livingstone the following season. "I was looking for a change from policy work, and farming felt to me like I was having a positive impact for people," Taylor reflects.
As her responsibilities grew, so did her vision for food sovereignty. Tired of the grueling daily commute from the city out to Prince George’s County, Taylor drafted a blueprint in 2011 for a backyard Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription service centered around her D.C. home. Three neighbors offered their yards for cultivation, and Taylor set up a backyard greenhouse to raise vegetable seedlings. Every Thursday, she loaded a bicycle with fresh produce harvested from scattered urban plots and delivered shares to her six inaugural CSA members.
Legislative Hurdles and Urban Farming
Seeking to scale her operation, Taylor identified an unused two-acre parcel near Catholic University. However, local tax laws presented an insurmountable barrier: the District of Columbia lacked property tax exemptions for urban agricultural land, making long-term leasing financially prohibitive.
Refusing to back down, Taylor leveraged her tenacity and pro bono assistance from American University law students to spearhead a legislative campaign. Her efforts successfully culminated in the passage of D.C.’s landmark 2014 Urban Farming and Food Security Act, a bill that reformed municipal tax codes and authorized the city to lease vacant public and private land to urban growers. Armed with this legal victory, Taylor launched Three Part Harmony Farm on the site in 2015. By 2024, the farm’s 64 intensive 3-by-100-foot beds were yielding an impressive 7,000 pounds of fresh food annually.
A Shared Vision Takes Shape
Meanwhile, D’Real Graham was charting his own course. Raised in Michigan, Graham pursued a career in education before relocating to Washington to work for an educational nonprofit. Like Taylor, he eventually found his way to Deep Roots Farm as a volunteer.
"I was ready to pivot from office culture to agriculture, but it was hard," Graham recalls. "At first, Farmer Gale only trusted me to weed, but I came to it humbly and was willing to learn." His dedication paid off swiftly; by the end of his first year, Graham was piloting the farm’s delivery van and managing bustling market stalls at three weekly farmers’ markets.
After meeting at Deep Roots, Taylor and Graham formed a personal and professional partnership. In 2019, Graham officially joined Three Part Harmony Farm. Together, the couple began dreaming of a larger canvas—a space where they could radically expand production and build the foundational infrastructure for a regional food hub.
In 2022, they leased the Brandywine property to supplement their urban yields. Recognizing the long-term potential of the land, they entered into a lease-to-purchase agreement in December 2023 with crucial financial backing from Dirt Capital Partners, an organization dedicated to funding regenerative organic agriculture.
Supporting Context & Metrics: Healing the Land and Scaling Up
The transition from a two-acre urban lot to a 24-acre rural farm brought monumental challenges, particularly regarding land stewardship and soil rehabilitation.
Building on History
The Brandywine property carries a complex and layered history. Bordered on one side by Spice Creek—which flows directly into the Patuxent River and ultimately feeds the Chesapeake Bay watershed—the land features a roadside brick house, various legacy outbuildings, and a modest cabin at its center. For generations, the land was owned by the locally prominent Baden family, whose fields were historically farmed for tobacco, and later, conventional corn and soybeans.
Historical research conducted by Graham revealed a sobering truth about the property: "I researched the history of this land, and I learned that 110 people had been enslaved here at one time." Recognizing this history deeply informs the couple’s perspective on land ownership and racial equity in agriculture.
Furthermore, decades of conventional farming using heavy machinery and chemical herbicides had severely compacted and degraded the soil. "The soil was so degraded that we brought in seven truckloads of compost in summer 2022," Graham notes. "We rented a skid steer, and I spent three days spreading the compost."
Current Scale and Operations
The couple erected robust deer fencing, hand-dug their initial crop beds, and planted inaugural yields of sweet potatoes, white potatoes, watermelons, eggplants, and tomatillos. As operations expanded, they introduced a walk-behind tractor, installed a drip-irrigation water line, established a dedicated post-harvest wash station, and built a nursery greenhouse.
Spice Creek Farm At-A-Glance
- Location: Brandywine, Maryland (Prince George’s County)
- Total Acreage: 24 acres
- Cultivated Vegetable Production: 3 acres and actively expanding
- CSA Membership: 150 active subscribers
- Production Cycle: 48 weeks of continuous food production annually
Official Statements and Expert Perspectives
As Taylor and Graham navigate the complexities of scaling up a rural enterprise, they are not doing it alone. The couple has partnered with the Rodale Institute consulting team to optimize their regenerative methods, manage infrastructure, and secure vital economic resources.
Kegan Hilaire, Rodale Institute’s small farms and diversified vegetable consultant, has worked closely with Spice Creek Farm. According to Hilaire, transitions of this scale present unique balancing acts:
"When farmers begin to scale up, they need to balance their short-term needs for infrastructure and equipment to keep up with their growth, while staying focused on their long-term plans. A walk-behind tractor can get you started, for example, but it’s not going to be enough when you’re working 20 acres. You also need simple infrastructure for post-harvest preparation and storage that can handle the volume you’re harvesting now, while you save for a bigger cooler and processing space."
Hilaire’s technical assistance spans soil building, weed management, crop rotations, organic certification navigation, and identifying resilient market channels. However, external pressures—including recent contractions in federal grant funding for small-scale organic agriculture—have added strain to operations.
"We didn’t bring a lot of capital to this," Graham explains. "We have depended on grants for funding, and those cuts have had a big impact on us."
Despite financial headwinds, the human element remains paramount. Labor retention in agriculture remains a hurdle, particularly given historical stigmas. "For many Black and brown people, working in agriculture has negative connotations," Graham observes. To combat this, the farm houses a resident worker in the main brick house and plans to convert the central cabin into a personal dwelling, preserving the larger farmhouse for employee housing to attract passionate agricultural workers.
Future Outlook: The Black Agrarian Corridor and Beyond
Looking toward the horizon, Spice Creek Farm is positioning itself as a central pillar in a broader regional renaissance. Rather than viewing neighboring farms as competitors, Taylor and Graham are spearheading an intentional network of agricultural cooperation across southern Maryland.
By coordinating crop rotations with half a dozen nearby producers, they ensure that local markets are supplied efficiently without market saturation. This cooperative ethos is the foundation of their ultimate goal: establishing a thriving Black Agrarian Corridor.
"We’re reactivating what I did in the city, when I set up a multi-farm CSA that provided 270 members with a variety of food from 12 different sources," Taylor explains. "We want to relaunch that idea here, creating important marketing opportunities for other farmers while offering customers the chance to choose to buy from Black farmers, women farmers, and regenerative organic farmers. We believe we can all succeed together."
Beyond crop production and regional distribution, the couple plans to host educational workshops connecting consumers directly to the land, teaching nutritional wellness, and imparting regenerative land-management techniques.
"We aspire to be land stewards as much as farmers," Graham concludes.
"We wake up every day with the goals of building the soil and producing food that’s good for people," Taylor adds. "We want to get to the point where we can nurture the next wave of beginning farmers."
Through unwavering resilience, ecological stewardship, and deep community solidarity, Spice Creek Farm is rewriting the narrative of American agriculture—proving that the seeds of equity and cooperation can take root, flourish, and transform a landscape.
