When Alabama National Guardsman Brandon Hines returned stateside after a 2007-2008 deployment to Iraq, he had some trouble adjusting.

For about a year, it was hard for him to sleep.

Hines decided one day in 2009 he wanted a garden. He tilled up about an 8-by-8-foot plot and jokingly said he killed everything in his path.

That night, though, he slept all the way through the night.

“I knew that it was what I wanted to do,” Hines said. “I felt that was where I would serve best in my community. I knew there was something to it and it was where I needed to be.”

Today, Hines and his wife, Amy, along with their three daughters and his dad, plant, harvest and maintain nearly 18 acres of land in Green Hill near Killen.

Farming is his full-time occupation and has been for three of the last 10 years. He started farming full time after 13 years in the heating, venting, air conditioning and refrigeration business.

Hines’ goal is to provide safe, healthy and great-tasting fresh produce.

The first generation farmers at Hines Family Farm now provide about 160 varieties of produce each season, and their produce is sold at Athens Saturday Market.

Hines Family Farms is a plasticulture farm, which means the family uses agricultural plastics in farming applications. “Basically, we use plastic mulch with drip irrigation lines buried underneath to supply water and liquid fertilizers (know as fertigation) to plants,” according to the Hines Family Farm website.

The process helps reduce water consumption and fertilizer waste as well as the need for harsh chemical herbicides and pesticides in the food-production areas, Hines said. There is also little to no chance of run-off contamination coming from the farm, he said.

According to the website, the Hines are committed to using practices that keeps plants healthy and safe.

“We eat what we grow, and we feed it to our kids,” Hines said on his website. “I won’t put anything on a plant that I’m not willing to consume or have my family consume.”

Some of the varieties of produce grown on Hines Family Farm include lettuce, beets, radishes, Swiss chard, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, kale, mustard greens, collard greens, turnips and turnip greens, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, bell peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers, winter squash, watermelons, cantaloupe, potatoes, okra, onions, sweet potatoes and cilantro.

Hines Family Farms is also part of Community Supported Agriculture, a program in which people in the community can purchase a share of the crop early in the season in exchange for the harvest throughout the season.

Visit https://hinesfamilyfarm.com to learn more about CSA and Hines Family Farm.

Hines said the family enjoys being in Athens for the Saturday Market.

“We would like to make it a regular thing,” Hines said. “As long as the community wants us, we will be there.”

Farming also offers the family one other bounty. Hines said he works an average of 100 hours a week on the farm, so sleeping is no longer a problem.

— Athens Main Street Intern Anna Marbut contributed to this article.