Today we’d like to introduce you to Antoine Levy.
Hi Antoine, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I grew up in the rural southwest of France and have always been an outdoor kid. I have been interested in science for a long time, experimenting in the kitchen and using my family as test subjects for my various cake discoveries. After completing a technical diploma in chemistry and chemical engineering, I attended a French engineering school in the same field. This program includes a non-mandatory one-year internship during which students gain experience, preferably abroad. This is how I arrived in the USA. I spent a year researching pharmaceuticals for an RTP company and decided I liked it here. I applied to NCSU, which had an agreement with my French school, allowing me to simultaneously complete diplomas from both schools. I then got my first permanent position as a formulation scientist in the crop protection industry, where I learned a lot about the Ag world. After changing jobs a couple of times, I have found a position more suitable for my long-term aspirations of developing safe biopesticides. In the meantime, I married my amazing wife, and we bought a house in Cary, where I could get back into gardening between travels. I quickly got interested in the stuff I did not know about, so I bought and traded weird seeds online. It is better than it sounds, I promise. In the fun stuff section: lime basil, buena muleta peppers, pineapple guava. It is fascinating to grow and sample these. And that’s not even mentioning all the new opportunities they bring to the kitchen! My neighbors’ peer pressure convinced me to do a business out of my gardening passion right as the Covid pandemic started! The business started small, to the table and a market tent, in Cary. People share my interest because they keep returning to try new stuff! I have also grown some plants for my foreign friends who need help finding certain fresh produce for their traditional cooking. The alchemist’s backyard focuses on rare species of vegetables or herbs, which people seem to love. I am now expanding my operations to a 20-acre lot in the Sanford area and looking forward to seeing what the future holds!
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has most definitely been a challenging road! The first one was to get used to the Southern accent because no french school teaches the subtilities of “y’all” or “bless your heart!” The most challenging part for me was so far from my family and friends when I saw so much happening without being able to do much about personal struggles, diseases, and losses. On the business side, managing time between my full-time job, my farming side job, and my family was rough at the beginning, but improving each year with experience. Farming is not easy: you must be a plant biologist, a meteorologist, a mechanic, and more.
Here is some example of challenges faced:
– How to transport all your market gears, plants, and produce when you have a honda civic?
– What to do if the dozer you rented is stuck in a mud pit?
– What is the name of that specific mechanical piece on the tractor that needs changing?
Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I started the Alchemist backyard 3 years ago during the Covid pandemic. The goal was to provide people with plants and produce people generally need to learn about, mainly on the edible side. What started as a small side hustle is now growing into a full-blown business which is both exciting and slightly scary at the same time.
I see this business split into a few different yet intertwined parts:
– Growing fruits and vegetables not traditionally produced in NC.
– Re-inserting native edible plants into our plates by providing them to the local restaurants, breweries, etc.
– Grow some hard-to-find fresh produce to give immigrants a piece of home.
Talk to us if you hear about that weird fruit, plant, or spice and can’t source it! In the future, I plan on having a large commercial kitchen to transform the produce and host events, maybe have some beehives, and dedicate some of the space as a learning area for people who want to become farmers. The possibilities are endless.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I want to acknowledge my wife and all the friends helping me along the way. I feel very privileged that I have met wonderful people along the way with backgrounds and mentalities different than mine. They have been helping me along the way by providing advice and sharing their own experience. I also have a job that gives me enough time and resources to start that adventure. I know many people do not have this opportunity, and I hope we can one day reach a point in our society where everyone can try their ideas without jeopardizing their livelihood.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealchemistbackyardnc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thealchemistbackyard
