HARRISONBURG, Va. — When former star NFL center Jason Brown left the St. Louis Rams in 2012 to become a farmer in North Carolina, he admittedly had no idea what he was doing.

“I don’t know anything about farming,” Brown said, during the “Frontier Luncheon” in late May at Eastern Mennonite University’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute. “I watched Youtube videos.”

He hasn’t let this knowledge deficit stop him from seeking a life of service, however.

Brown started First Fruits Farm in Louisburg, N.C., in 2013 after deciding to leave behind a successful NFL career.