EDGEWATER — Gerardo Martinez has worn many titles in his life: Naval Academy graduate, Marine Corps officer, and now, first-generation Hispanic farmer. Today, he proud to be the owner of Wild Kid Acres Farm in Edgewater.

Martinez grew up in Chicago, the son of a Mexican flower farmer and an Arab mother from New Jersey. Summers spent tending to flowers left him determined to take a different path. “I hated flowers growing up,” he said. “That’s why I joined the military, I said I will never be around a farm ever.”

After four years at the Naval Academy in Annapolis and five years in the Marine Corps, Martinez found himself back on the land. He says the transition felt natural because farming and military life share the same traits.

Marine veteran turns abandoned land into thriving family f

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