Stinging sun & soaked soil – A Farmer Adapts

By Chris Underwood

Aug. 10, 2025 – This time of year, the dog days of August, when the sun’s rays have become stinging whips and the air’s moisture clings to the body like a twisted blanket, most sensible people, those driven by comfort and whom have acquiesced to the conformity to have it, peck away on keyboards in air-conditioned offices and coffee shops, their toil untethered from time, place, and the seasons.

Working the earth, though, demands adherence to its schedule, observations of its health, and the know-how to adapt as its patterns change.

Brendan Gannon arrives at the five-acre plot that he leases from Bethesda Academy at 7 a.m. every morning. Over the six years he’s been working this land, financial realities have changed, and the fields have become more solitary. His wife, Lillianna, used to help with harvesting, but she has gone back to dentistry school with the goal of more steady money after graduation. A hired hand is viable only once a week. The other days of the week, his dog Kimba is the only other soul in the fields.

Brendan doesn’t mind the quiet, though. Educated in journalism, he likes to ponder the connection between the intricacies of all the fields he has nurtured and the overarching principles of agriculture and emotional life. When he first started farming with the organization Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, he loved the lush landscapes of the coasts of Ireland, but became frustrated with the limited growing seasons, the lack of produce variety, and the pigs—too dirty and stubborn to like—that brought money into the farms during the months when the produce couldn’t grow.

Following that experience, he volunteered at an urban farm on a vacant lot in Battery Park while working as a doorman at various Manhattan apartment buildings and hotels. From there, he went on to full time farming jobs in the Catskills and Hudson Valley before moving back to the Lowcountry to manage Canewater Farms in Darien, only a couple hours from his hometown of Charleston.

In 2019, Brendan founded Gannon Organics and working here has brought him more in line with the ideals that got him farming in the first place. Brendan’s mother worked as a pastry chef in Charleston restaurant kitchens, and he early adopted the notion that the earth could provide all a cook needed to not only sustain but also satisfy eaters’ desires for variety.

His peppers, started from seed in the greenhouse back in January, strike the tongue with flavors fruity, sweet, and earthy and the eye with the full spectrum of reds, oranges, yellows, and greens, the end result of careful field rotation and cover crop planting that has replenished the soil’s nutrients after the previous harvest. Here, his tools glide through sandy soil and do not break on rocks, as they did in New York, and he can taste the higher salt content in the dirt that essentially pre-seasons the vegetables, making them more flavorful than those he’s grown elsewhere.

In theory, this area of the country should give Brendan the least number of problems he’s ever had to handle, but the atmosphere and soil have started to change. Ever since Hurricane Helene last September, the soil has been waterlogged, causing more plants to rot and resulting in the lowest yields he’s seen here.

Because of this new problem, Brendan has expanded his duties to securing USDA grants, one of which provides for a drainage system that will eliminate the rot and another that will help him open sales avenues on the internet, getting the most people the most peppers before they spoil.

Making a living from the ground isn’t easy and will test anybody’s patience. Talking to Brendan, though, one sees a happy man with smiling eyes and a quick chuckle. He says he doesn’t feel the heat, even as his workdays stretch into high sun late afternoons.

In joking times, Brendan will say that he has become jaded after farming all these years, but the laugh immediately after gives away the love he continues to hold for it. The fire within him burns just as brightly as the sun.

About Gannon Organics

Brendan and Lillianna Gannon founded Gannon Organics in 2019, a sustainable, regenerative and diversified farm, where they have been “objectifying vegetables” since December 2019. Find them regularly at area farmer’s markets and events. Follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

Recipe by Chris Underwood

Note: This preparation isn’t too technically complicated, but it requires much dishwashing, and trying to prepare this in one day would be frustrating. Spreading out the preparation of the components will result in a more satisfying final dish. The roasted garlic honey used in the aioli would be impossible to make in a quantity as small as used in this recipe. No worries, though- it keeps well and can be used in countless ways.

Yield: 10 hearty croquettes or 15 hush puppy-sized

Ingredients:

For the croquettes, before frying:

• 2 pounds russet potatoes      
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ½ cup whole milk                  
• 14 oz cream cheese
• 2 pints jalapeno peppers       
• 1 pint serrano peppers
• 3 yellow onions, diced           
• 6 oz grated sharp white cheddar cheese
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped dill    
• Salt   
• Avocado or grapeseed oil

For the aioli:

• 2 pints Jimmy Nardello peppers      
• 5 tablespoons mayonnaise (I like Hellman’s)
• 1 tablespoon roasted garlic honey (directions at end of recipe)     
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar            
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• For frying the croquettes:
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs             
• 2 eggs, beaten      
• Avocado or grapeseed oil

Method

1. First, make the mashed potatoes. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Place the unpeeled potatoes on a sheet pan and poke all over with a fork. Pour the butter over and toss all around. Place in a preheated 425°F oven until a fork easily slides through them, about an hour. Let cool before peeling.
2. Use a hand mixer to beat the potatoes with the cream cheese and milk. They should be thicker and stiffer than mashed potatoes you’d eat without further preparation. Season with salt.
3. Cook the diced onions in a Dutch oven in medium-low heat oil or butter with a few pinches of salt, partially covered and stirring every few minutes, until they turn light brown and soft. This takes from 45 minutes to an hour.
4. As the onions cook, cut the jalapenos and serranos in half lengthwise and then remove the seeds. Place on a sheet pan, toss in oil, turn skin side up, and place in a 400°F oven until the skin begins to peel off of the peppers, about 25 minutes.
5. After they cool, peel the peppers as much as you can stand, then dice and mix into the mashed potatoes. Mix in the caramelized onions and chopped dill, too.
6. Roll this mixture into balls slightly bigger than hushpuppies. Put in a covered container and refrigerate overnight.
7. Make the aioli. First, roast and peel the Jimmy Nardellos as in Steps 4 and 5. Chop and put into a small blender. Add the other ingredients and pulse.
8. Place the breadcrumbs and eggs into two separate loaf pans. Roll the potato balls in the eggs, then the crumbs. Depending on how thick you like your breading, roll in the eggs and then crumbs a second time. Since the croquettes have chilled overnight, they won’t disintegrate into sad messes.
9. Fry the croquettes in a wide, deep pan, in a good 2 inches of oil. Move around as they brown. Remove to a paper towel lined plate when done.
10.  Serve the croquettes with the aioli. A dipping bowl is perfectly fine, but if you want a pretty drizzle, use a serrated knife to cut off the tip of a squirt bottle. Put the aioli in that and squeeze while moving your elbow and hand in circles above the plate.

Roasted Garlic Honey

Ingredients

• 5 heads garlic   
• 1 cup honey     
• 1 lemon, juiced (about 2.5 tablespoons of juice)   
• olive oil

Method

1. Turn the heads of garlic on their sides and cut down near the tops to expose the cloves.
2. Put each head on its own individual rectangle of aluminum foil. Drizzle with oil, wrap, and place the garlic packets on a sheet pan before placing into a preheated 275°F oven for an hour. After cooling and removing from the foil, the garlic will be browned, sticky, and easy to squeeze out of its paper.
3. Blend the garlic with the honey and lemon juice.

About the author

LATEST BY CHRIS UNDERWOOD

• Stinging sun & soaked soil – A Farmer Adapts
• Bringing the Inside Out – Beekeeping and Redemption
• Blueberries, Bugs and a Farmer Named Forrest
• “Good Food for Good People” – Billy’s Botanicals and Widespread Panic
• Market Days: 920 Company and Mexican Coke Ribs

---

If you find value in this website, please consider contributing above or via Paypal to help cover the costs. You can also send contributions via Venmo @Savannah_Agenda. Your support, no matter how much you give, is appreciated and will help ensure the future viability of this community resource. You can also show your support by subscribing below and sharing Savannah Agenda with others via email or social media. Increasing readership is critical to the long-term success of this site.

READ MORE BY CHRIS UNDERWOOD