EDGEWATER — Gerardo Martinez has worn many titles in his life: Naval Academy graduate, Marine Corps officer, and now, first-generation Hispanic farmer. Today, he proud to be the owner of Wild Kid Acres Farm in Edgewater.
Martinez grew up in Chicago, the son of a Mexican flower farmer and an Arab mother from New Jersey. Summers spent tending to flowers left him determined to take a different path. “I hated flowers growing up,” he said. “That’s why I joined the military, I said I will never be around a farm ever.”
After four years at the Naval Academy in Annapolis and five years in the Marine Corps, Martinez found himself back on the land. He says the transition felt natural because farming and military life share the same traits.
WATCH: Marine veteran creates legacy at Wild Kid Acres
“Farming is a lot like the military,” he explained. “You’ve got to adapt and do things even though nobody’s ever going to reward you for them.”
When he bought the property in Edgewater, it was little more than an abandoned house and an unofficial dump.
“I built the house by myself, and the barn was built by the community,” he recalled. Today, it’s a working farm filled with pigs, llamas, alpacas, horses, bulls, and chickens.
For Martinez, farming is also a way of working through the lessons of life and death.
“Sometimes you make mistakes, but that adaptability… looking at failure as something to learn from… that came from being in the military. Farming teaches you that balance, and in terms of mental health, it helps a lot.”
He’s not doing it alone. His 11-year-old son, Mariano, helps keep the animals alive and the farm operational when his father is away. Mariano also named the farm when he was little, and now dreams of following in his father’s footsteps.
“My dad taught me integrity and passion,” he said. “I want to be like him, maybe even join the Marine Corps one day.”
Martinez hopes other veterans will follow their lead.
“I think there is a trend for a lot more veterans to get in touch with agriculture because it is very similar to military life,” he said. “We are now starting our program of trying to find farms for the future generation of farmers, and I think that future generation looks a lot like a military veteran.”
This October, Wild Kid Acres will celebrate its 5-year anniversary with a community farm-to-table event on Saturday, October 4th, marking an important milestone for Gerardo and the community he has built. His work has already earned recognition from Governor Wes Moore, state legislators, and Chesapeake Charities, which named Wild Kid Acres 2023 Nonprofit of the Year.