GLASTONBURY, CT; 7/25/2012: Brenda Sullivan grows vegetables in 20 raised beds behind her home in Glastonbury. She carries a basket of freshly cut arugula to be weighted and bagged brfore bringing her crop to a farmers market at Manchester Community College. At her Thompson Street Farm, she grows leafy greens, tomatoes, lavender and herbs and sells them at two farmers markets. MICHAEL McANDREWS | mmcandrews@courant.com

Plan B. That’s what SPIN-Farming was for Brenda Sullivan in 2008 when she needed to supplement the family income due to the economic downturn. Because she cared for her special needs daughter, Katie, she needed a business that kept her close to home. Using the SPIN-Farming system, she transformed her backyard into a 1,200 square foot farm. Over the years she has sold her greens and specialty vegetables to restaurants, helped start the Glastonbury Farmers Market and is currently selling through a CSA. She’s a perfect role model for others who want to use their gardens to lower their grocery bills and plug the gaps that have been showing up in more and more household budgets. She can fill you in on aquaponics, herbalism, containers (she’s grown in baby wading pools, fabric growing tubes, storage totes, Earthboxes, and grow bags), mushroom growing, why you should ask neighbors to blow their leaves into your yard, and her recipe rating system. I guess we needn’t tell yah that backyard farming opened up lots of new pursuits for Brenda. Did we mention her new Farm to Bath skin care line?

Find out how Brenda and thousands of others are making the transition to full-time farming in the Backyard  Riches community. As an extra bonus, you’ll be connected with thousands of other accomplished growers who are using the Backyard Riches learning programs to turn their gardens into encore careers and significant income.

If you’re not ready to go all-in just yet, get a taste of what starting a backyard-scale farming business is like from our members with a month-to-month membership here.

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