Navy Veteran Nurtures Soil, Community, and Fellow Vets Through Farming and Food

For Justin Butts, the path to becoming a farmer was riddled with bumps and detours, including a stint in the Navy, a misdiagnosed medical crisis, culinary school, and a derailed first attempt at leasing a farm. Thanks to the work ethic and ability to persevere he honed in the Navy, Butts finally has his own farm, and now he’s giving back.

15 Minutes With Justin Butts

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Garden Roots

As a child in rural Pennsylvania, Butts enjoyed gardening alongside his grandfather, a World War II veteran. “When I was 4 or 5, and he was in his late 70s, we’d garden for hours every day. We ate a lot of the food we grew and gave it out to the neighbors,” he recalled. “He would tell me about growing up on the farm in North Carolina, the animals they had, and the things they’d do. I loved asking him questions about the farm.”

When Butts was 17, his family lost their home and moved into an upstairs apartment in a farmhouse. The day after high school graduation, a neighbor who owned a feed store hired him to deliver feed and help take care of her horses. “She became one of my mentors and best friends,” he said. “She taught me a lot about farming and animal care. I also got to go to a lot of farms in rural Pennsylvania that I would have never gotten to see without her.”

Since he didn’t have a family farm to step into, Butts weighed his career options and decided to follow another childhood dream — becoming a chef. His dream was put on hold when he was accepted to culinary school but realized he couldn’t afford tuition. “My family had just lost their house, so they couldn’t co-sign,” he said. “There were some really hard years after that, and I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

A New Path At Sea

Butts joined the Navy at age 21. “I loved being in the military,” he said. “In 18 months, I was promoted four times, and was in charge of an admin office on a ship. I thought I was going to stay in the Navy for 20 years.”

Then, on his second deployment after having just left the Philippines, the ship doctor noticed some concerning bruises on his arms and legs. After a blood test and X-rays, he was flown to a hospital in Manila, where he was told he had leukemia. The Navy flew him to Singapore, where further tests revealed the initial diagnosis was incorrect, and he had an autoimmune disease called thrombocytopenia. His condition led to a full medical retirement for Butts.

“If the disease isn’t treated, it looks like I have stage four leukemia and it will affect me in such a way,” he explained. “I have to have chemotherapy every month for the rest of my life, but when it’s treated, I’m a perfectly healthy person and no one would know there’s anything wrong.”

Returning to His Roots

While back in Pennsylvania for a family reunion, Butts visited a farm that had been on his feed delivery route. The farmer offered to lease it to Butts with the agreement he would purchase it after two years. The farm came with 500 chickens, and Butts added four Kunekune pigs because, he said, “I wanted something other than chickens to interact with.”

During this time, Butts had joined a year-long apprenticeship program in organic farming with The Seed Farm, which provides access to land, tools, and training for beginning farmers. “I learned how to use a tractor and how to basically turn a field into a farm,” he said. “I learned a ton about farming, cash flows, and marketing food.”

Before the first year on the farm was up, Butts said the agreement with the owner fell apart, and he had to find a new home for himself and his pigs.

Justin Butts installs fencing at Black Wind Farm in upstate New York.

Courtesy of Justin Butts

Second Time’s a Charm

Since he was receiving benefits from the V.A. and could take advantage of the G.I. Bill, Butts decided to revisit his dream of going to culinary school. An orchard owner who grew apples for hard cider offered to house his pigs. “I was very popular in culinary school because none of the other students had pigs,” he said.

After graduation, Butts worked as livestock manager for Soul Fire Farm and took part in the Braiding Seeds Fellowship for BIPOC farmers. The fellowship introduced him to American Farmland Trust, which helped him find a 106-acre farm on a plateau in upstate New York’s Helderberg Mountains.

Although the property had seen better days, Butts jumped at the opportunity, and Black Wind Farm was born. “The farm was kind of beat up, and I was kind of beat up, so we were beat up together,” he said.

Neighbors — some of whom had worked on the property over the years — helped Butts bring the farm back to life. “It’s green and beautiful out here, and so peaceful,” he said. “I feel very safe here.”

Butts is raising Kunekune pigs, Dexter cross cattle, Katahdin sheep, and chickens on the farm, and is instituting regenerative grazing practices. He said his next steps are to acquire equipment, grow his own feed, and start growing vegetables to sell. “I want to be able to provide for the whole community and also be a place where people can come and learn about farming,” he said.

As he builds his new farm, Butts said he is drawing on lessons learned in the Navy. “Perseverence is the most important lesson,” he said. “There are a lot of days, weeks, and months where everything goes wrong. Sometimes I feel like everything’s on fire all at once, but you have to be able to persevere, and as you overcome each problem, things get a little better.”

Butts likened the community aspects of being deployed on a ship with the farming community. “Some people can be great on their own, but it’s much easier when you have people behind you and working with you,” he said.

Paying It Forward

Butts is one of a group of farmers, butchers, chefs, food lovers, and veterans who come from all over the country to central Georgia each year for a gastronomical and educational event, Le Pied du Mont Boucherie. It’s held at Comfort Farms, the nation’s first acute veterans crisis agriculture center, which gives veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and other invisible disabilities a place to heal, learn new skills, and transition back to civilian life.

“That event is the highlight of my year every single year,” he said. “I was out of the Navy for probably eight years before I went to that event, and that was the first time I felt like I was back with my people. It felt like I found the family that I had been missing.”

Butts said the event inspired him to start Fields of Valor, a nonprofit that will host events where farmers, veterans, and chefs can spend time, cook, and eat together. He hopes to have his first event in April 2026. He said, “It’s really about the community getting together and sharing the moment.”