Chris Faria's connection to the land goes back to childhood, first in his family's garden in Bermuda and then during summers spent with his grandparents in the Azores.

“I would say that I am blessed and privileged to have had these experiences from an early age, working with my parents in the garden, the veggie garden, landscaping chores.”

But some of his strongest memories come from Sao Miguel, where he would spend weeks with his grandparents.

“For me, memories of farming and being connected to the land are from the Azores. I would go there for weeks; take out the dairy cows with my grandfather. They had tons of land.”

Those experiences now influence what he wants to create for others through Agra Living.

“That's the experience that I want to create for people, so they can connect with nature and land in some way.”

Agriculture wasn't immediately his career.

“After university, I started working at Aberfeldy and I was around a lot of plants without a lot of experience. I got into plants and reading a lot. I learnt a lot on the job.”

He also began working part-time at Amaral Farms on his day off to make extra money.

“I really connected with that. This connection also reconnected with these memories as a child on the farmland, smelling the soil.”

It reminded him of what working with the land could offer.

“There are all sorts of problems with agriculture in Bermuda, but if you remove all that, the experience can be fulfilling and joyful.”

Six years into Agra Living, Mr Faria's work now extends across schools, non-profit organisations and businesses.

“Our work through the land is through creating as much social impact as we can as a social enterprise.”

Agra Living stewards gardens at Paget Primary and East Pembroke Primary, supported by the Bermuda Education Network, while Mr Faria also teaches students and delivers gardening workshops.

“We've created a healthy ecosystem to deliver maximum impact to the people who need it the most in terms of learning how to grow some food, being and working in the garden and connecting with nature, which is a healing experience.”

For Mr Faria, there is still something deeply satisfying about simply planting something and watching it change.

“We have one garden that we care for that's very beautiful. My partner and my friend Jonathan, from Neighbours Compass, we put in all these plants — papaya, gunga peas. That brings me a lot of joy. To be able to plant something and watch it grow. I'm blessed because we do that several days throughout the week.”

Some of those projects have now been growing for three years.

“You can see the plants grow and the people who enjoy it. It's good because I don't always stop to look and appreciate it.”

He says working with the land has also become something deeper.

“For me, it's a spiritual practice. It's a way to connect with the spirit realm, whatever that means to you.”

And the more Mr Faria learns about agriculture, the deeper he goes.

He now spends between four and six hours a week studying through the Soil Food Web School and has become a certified laboratory technician.

“I do biological assessments of your soil in your garden, or somewhere you want to learn more about, and assessments of compost.”

Using a microscope, he can examine the organisms living within soil and compost.

“You can lose yourself in time looking at the samples and the magnification of the samples. Seeing fungi in your soil and compost samples and seeing what I would term larger predators. They actually move around in the solution.”

By examining and counting what is present, he can assess whether soil has the right biological conditions for particular plants.

“You can know if your soil is in the right succession for the plants you want to grow.”

Mr Faria is now training as a consultant and wants to put that knowledge to work in Bermuda.

“Then I can take this knowledge and use it to remediate soil in Bermuda that's been depleted or damaged over time for different reasons. It will also be the quickest way to accelerate growing food in Bermuda.”

For a passion that began with childhood memories of gardens, dairy cows and the smell of soil, it has grown to encompass community, science and spirituality. But the joy underneath it remains remarkably simple.

“It's healing for me when I'm in my garden. It brings me a lot of joy to see the spark in people and how people are enjoying gardening.”