(inspiring rock music) ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag".

I'm your host, Rob Sharkey.

I'm also a fifth-generation farmer.

The farm was started to feed people, but what if you started a farm to empower people?

Today we're going to talk with Damien and Sherri Navarro.

Navarro?

Did I say it right?

- Navarro.

- That is correct.

- Yeah, just like the cartel is what you said.

- Unfortunately.

- If you watch "Ozark," then you're laughing.

(Rob laughs) (Sherri chuckles) You guys are from Frankfort, Illinois.

- Correct.

- Where is that at?

- It's about 30 minutes or 35 minutes south of Chicago.

- Okay, is that where you're from originally?

- No.

- No.

- Indiana.

- What part?

- Northwest Indiana.

I was originally born in East Chicago, then my father moved us to Gary thinking it was a nicer place.

Little did he know it was the killing capital of the United States at the time.

And then we ended up in Griffith, next door to my bride here.

- I was in Calumet Township, kind of, like, on the border of Gary.

- Okay.

And you guys are married how long?

- 28 wonderful years.

(Sherri chuckles) - Is he right?

- We got married... When did we get married?

October 4th, 1997.

- No, I meant on the wonderful part.

- Oh.

- Oh, well... - We've had our... I think we've had... - Peaks and valleys.

- Yeah, but you come out of the valley.

That's the best part, right?

(Rob chuckles) (Sherri laughs) - Where did you two meet?

- Back after high school.

- Yeah, well, we knew each other before that.

- Yeah.

He was- - She knew me.

- Are we getting into the wrestling?

Is that what we're getting into?

- I guess, yeah.

- Let's get deep into it.

- I did stats for wrestling one year, and he was a wrestler.

He was kind of popular, I heard.

- Like a professional wrestler?

- No, high school.

I mean, he could have gone to state, right, or college, whatever.

- In college.

- But I don't know, my mind just went blank.

- When you saw him, did you hear the harp and everything and the cupid?

- Yes, I heard all about him.

He was on the popular side, and I think I was friends with everybody.

It didn't matter what they were in.

It didn't matter who you were.

- She was a... non-judgmental Christian young lady who was friends with everyone.

- And he was in a singlet.

- He was in a singlet, and he liked to party.

(Rob laughs) - Oh.

That's usually a sign for a party.

You walk around with a singlet on and you ain't afraid of fun, right?

- No.

No, you're not.

Well, that's very romantic.

- Thank you.

- Then we... - We didn't know each other then.

We would talk.

She was a little strange.

She always had a Bible.

- It was just the name.

- I always had a singlet with me.

(Sherri chuckles) But then we met because of a pizza place, my favorite pizza place.

- In Griffith.

- [Rob] Which is?

- It's Pasquale's.

It's not open anymore, but it's brothers of the people that own Aurelio's.

If you're familiar with Aurelio's.

Is Aurelio's down there?

- No.

- Aurelio's Pizza?

- No.

We know of Giordano's.

That's about our extent.

- But it just had a great sweet sauce to it.

- That type of thick pizza though, right?

- Oh yeah, that's deep dish.

So this was a thing with a sweet sauce, and there was a sweet girl that had me going there too.

So I was sweet on her.

- Anyway, he'd always come in there.

I always waited on him.

I think he asked me out on a date.

I did not like him.

He didn't like me.

- What?

- But we stayed friends, because he always would come in there.

- I think you asked me first.

- I don't even remember what our first date was.

- I'm just kidding, no, I asked you.

- I don't even remember.

- I'm trying to forget about you rejecting me.

- It probably wasn't that impactful.

- Yeah.

She found out how I was, and maybe the singlet gave her a different perspective.

Like, "Wow, he must be exciting," but I guess I wasn't.

- I feel like a therapist right now.

- Yeah.

(chuckles) - So how did that make you feel?

- About the singlet?

- I'm joking.

(Damien and Sherri laugh) (Rob laughs) - Okay.

So eventually you hit it off and you get married.

- We became really good friends.

We were like best friends.

That's when I would buy him a Bible and invite him to church.

We just became really good friends, and then we started dating.

And the rest is history.

It was like five years before we got married, total.

- And zero agriculture experience between the both of you.

- Never planted anything in our lives.

- No, we didn't know nothing about farming.

- I think I killed a cactus because I didn't water that right.

(Sherri laughs) I'm just kidding.

(Rob laughs) - But you didn't start out with the farm right away.

Tell me about the environmental company.

- Oh.

- I was pregnant with our firstborn who is 23 right now.

And that's when he decided to... open up his own... - So out of high school, I made some decisions that weren't the best.

So I started working for an environmental company.

So I moved back home, but my father said, "There ain't going to be two roosters in one hen house."

- [Rob] See, you've got a farming reference though.

- That's right.

- So, it's a precursor.

- Yeah.

Well, my dad said it a different way in Spanish, but we're not going to... It has something to do with roosters, you know what I mean?

But no two roosters in a hen house.

So I slept in the driveway, and he said either you get a job or you go to the military.

So that day I went to both places and signed up.

I could wrestle in the military, in the Marines.

So I figured, "Oh, it was my route."

But I got a call within two hours of applying for an environmental company to remove asbestos.

- [Rob] Oh.

- So you can be... - Larry Grimes from Grapevine, Texas, called me, and I worked in a refinery for 15 years.

- So you can be the... - So I could be asbestos I can.

So I removed asbestos.

- Good Lord.

- I'm just saying, it happened.

- I'm starting to regret this interview.

We got puns like that.

- Yeah, I apologize to the audience.

Okay.

- So, I worked there for many years, and that's when checks started bouncing with the company I worked for.

And I knew it was my job to provide and protect.

- I think we found out we didn't have insurance, and we were having a baby.

- We didn't have insurance.

- Did it worry you to work with asbestos?

- No, I felt indestructible.

So I was young and dumb.

I didn't think about my health.

I didn't think long-term enough at the time.

I didn't have anything.

I grew up with nothing.

We grew up on government assistance for many years, living in East Chicago.

So having nothing and having something, it didn't matter.

I'd do anything to get something and provide for my family.

So that's all that mattered.

I didn't care about my... I didn't think long-term about my health.

I thought only about what I had to do as a husband and a father.

So I took the gamble, and she gave me enough courage and self-belief that I opened up my own company.

At 20-something years old... - Holy cow!

- I opened my own company on a leap of faith and prayer and support from my wife.

I never owned a business, never went to college.

- Sherri?

- Yes.

- He says, "I'm going to open my own company."

What's going through your head?

- I was ready.

I was like, "Good."

I mean, it's a little... I mean, you're scared.

- I was scared.

Yeah.

- But we can do anything.

- But he's that type of guy, because I mean, not everybody can do that.

Not everybody has, I don't know, the personality and the wherewithal to open up their own company and make it successful.

- Well, as young as he was, he moved up on the ladder, and he was a supervisor at a young age.

So he had a lot of respect from a lot of older men.

And then there, of course, you have some that probably weren't... I don't know if intimidated is the word or whatever, but I knew he could do it.

- Yeah, okay.

So we open this company.

What was it called?

- NES, Navarro Environmental Services.

- Yeah, and that's what it's still called, right?

- It's still called that.

- Okay.

So was it hard?

In my mind, you're taking asbestos out in the Chicago area.

I'm thinking that's all, like, you gotta be known, right?

It seems like that's all government, and were you having trouble finding jobs?

- I was at first because then they forced me to be union.

I wouldn't say forced me to be union, but then the union approached me and said, "If you're going to do any work in the Chicagoland area, you gotta be union."

And then it was hard because I was self-financed.

I didn't have any money.

So I worked, and every time I worked... I had to work a regular job and work at my business and pay off everything slowly and build up slow.

But I just worked all the time, and it was hard.

It was very hard.

Yeah, it was.

So removing asbestos, there's a lot more than you think.

Most rebuilding materials were built with asbestos, floor tiles, mastic, spray-on fireproofing, siding on the exterior, and cementitious siding.

It's in a lot of product.

It's going to go on beyond my lifetime.

So commercial, industrial, government jobs.

There's a lot of opportunity out there.

There still is today.

- Is it really harmful?

- Yes.

- Because I literally don't trust anything anymore.

I mean, they've said it was harmful.

- It's a mineral from the earth that breaks up in microscopic fibers.

And the tensile strength is incredibly strong.

That's why you use it as a bonding agent, and it's indestructible.

So it's great for fireproofing, but the problem is it breaks up into little microscopic fibers, goes in your lungs and scars your lungs and creates asbestosis, lung cancer, or mesothelioma.

So yes, it's dangerous.

- You know what I remember?

- What?

- I remember back in the day, my grandparents had this trailer or a camper, and they had the bed above the driving area.

And they had the little white-ball ceiling.

What is that?

- Popcorn ceiling?

- Is that asbestos?

- Popcorn, we call it.

It's asbestos.

- Well, guess what?

We would lay there and pick it.

(Rob chuckles) We'd just lay there and pick it, and it would fall.

I mean, we probably ate a lot of it.

I'm realizing today how stupid that was.

- Well, you didn't know.

- We didn't know.

- In high school, we had parkas, like these old parkas from the '50s, and they were incredibly warm.

It could be zero degrees.

You put these out there, and you were fine.

Well, they were asbestos, and they were all falling apart and everything like that.

But we loved them.

I mean, I don't know, people didn't know.

- I know, right?

- Okay, so you start this.

You said it was just you, or did you start... - It was just me.

- When did you start hiring people?

- About two years after, when I couldn't manage the office anymore.

I was just working too many hours, 80 hours a week.

I wanted to spend time with my wife and my child.

So I hired someone to work in the office doing paperwork, and I went out and did all the physical work, the removal.

And then it just kept growing from there.

So now we do- - You had had one kid?

- Yep.

- Okay.

- And we lived, like, 10 minutes away, so I would just take her on stroller walks and go see.

- Gotcha.

- Okay.

So how many kids do you have?

- Three.

- And where does your son Carter fall in?

- The middle.

- He's the middle one.

- He's 21 years old right now.

- And tell me about Carter.

- Carter was born with Down syndrome, and he is the middle child, but he is easygoing.

- Incredible.

- Easygoing, high-functioning.

We've always told him, "There is nothing you can't do."

- That's right.

- Treated him no different.

Yes, you might have to discipline a little differently when he was growing up, but literally treated him no different at all with my other kids.

- So when did you know that he had Downs?

- Actually, we didn't know till... It was crazy.

- First cardiology appointment.

- Yeah, it was like four months after he was born.

Isn't that crazy?

- He looks a little different.

There were some features that we were a little concerned about.

- But you know what, the crazy thing is, the features resembled his side of the family.

Like, they all had those features if you look at them as babies.

So it was like, after he was born, we found out that he had, what was it, a heart murmur first?

- Atrioventricular heart defect.

They heard the murmurs, and then they looked into it.

When we went to the cardiologist, they said atrioventricular heart defect.

It's very common with individuals with Down syndrome.

- And then, like, the second month, they said he's going to need heart surgery.

In the third month, they said, "Oh, by the way, he has Down syndrome."

So it was like, you know, you feel like your world just crashed.

- Tell me about that because I've had four kids.

Every time there is this moment where you're like, "I hope everything's fine.

I hope everything's fine.

I just want everything to be healthy.

I don't want my life to just absolutely be turned upside down."

You're just so afraid of it.

So tell me about that moment where you're told your son has Down syndrome.

- Well, they offer you those tests that you can have.

I forgot what it's called, something with a P, I think.

But anyway, like, to see if your child has something, because then you have early times you can make a decision to whatever, you know.

And we were like, "Why find that out?

Because we're not going to do that anyway."

You know?

- Yep.

- I think you always think, "Oh, this would never happen to us, you know?"

Like, everybody thinks that, and then it happens.

I just feel like we were... I don't know, it just felt like the world was crashing.

- We felt sorry for ourselves.

We felt sorry for him.

- Of course you would.

- We blamed ourselves.

The world was turned upside down.

You didn't know what to do.

So we started just doing things in fear.

Like, we're going to pray for a miracle.

We're going to go to Benny Hinn.

We're going to go into prayer.

We're going to do this, anything it took.

- Works, works.

- I started getting tattoos removed.

Like, maybe I've cursed it.

I did anything you could think of.

- Well, you think how?

Like, I didn't drink, I didn't smoke.

And I'm like, "How does this happen to good people?"

I mean, it shouldn't happen to anybody, but still these are the natural thoughts you think.

But I think it was feeling sorry for him, because we don't know what his life is going to look like.

You know, and I'm thinking he has a son.

Is he going to get to play ball with him?

Is he going to get to do, you know?

- He's going to carry on the name.

- I think it's so honest what you just said.

We lost a son.

- Oh, I'm sorry.

- I remember thinking, "This does not happen to people like us."

- Right.

- Oh my gosh.

- This is stuff you hear about.

This doesn't happen to us.

- Right.

- But then you find yourself in that situation.

I was always curious when people found out autism or Down syndrome or something, just that mindset, because when you talk to people like you at this level, you're like, "Oh, it's such a blessing.

We received a great kid in that."

But initially, I can imagine you really struggle with it.

- Oh, it was very devastating.

It's like, you just want to cry, and then you're like, "I can't just..." You gotta get up.

You gotta get up.

And I think the main thing was speaking positivity over him, because there's life and death in the power of the tongue.

- There is.

- So always speak life over him.

I would play music at night, and I would just pray over him a lot.

I would tell him, "There's nothing you can't do.

You're going to do this, you're going to do that."

And I just think speaking positivity made a huge difference.

- Absolutely.

- So, I don't even know how to transition this, but your son, I mean, that led to this farm.

Correct?

- That was part of it.

We feel God planted that seed in our life, this farm, to make this happen.

- Over the years, I guess that would be a good way to transition into it.

Over the years, you get involved with things.

We did, like, park district stuff.

You're always looking for something to sign your kid up for.

And we couldn't find the perfect thing for Carter because he wanted his independence, but yet he still needed to be cued.

He still needed someone there.

And you were trying to give him his space, but at the same time, the park districts didn't offer someone to coach him on the side.

So it was finding that middle ground for him.

So after we did find a place and got him involved in it, we were meeting all these families and all these kids with the same abilities... - Diagnosis.

- And diagnosis.

- More importantly, their abilities that people weren't seeing.

- Yeah.

And I mean, over the years, just growing relationships with them and bonding with the families and realizing there's really not much for our kids to do.

- So as far as the farm goes, though, when you asked, "Did this lead to buying the farm?"

We bought the farm because our business is right here and our house is right here.

They're five minutes from each other.

Right in the middle, two and a half minutes away, is a farm.

At that point, we were doing work at O'Hare, and we were doing some demo work, my company NES, or our company NES.

(Rob laughs) Our company.

So I needed a place to store the steel and put heavy equipment in.

Instead of buying a new commercial building, I found out if you buy a farm, you could get it zoned ag.

If it's farmed, then you pay no taxes.

- Damn right!

- I'm the smartest guy in town.

Like, I'm using new space, right?

So I bought it with that intent, and that's when something happened.

At that moment, I'm walking through a soybean field, and I'm, like, just thanking God for getting the opportunity for us to have this property.

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks: focus on other people's needs instead of your wants.

I brought that to Sherri.

I said this, "This farm is not for NES.

We're supposed to do something here."

- Don't take offense, but that totally sounds like that should have been your idea.

Aren't you proud of him?

- Are you ready for this?

- Yes.

- I did go home and pray about it, and I woke up.

And I was like, "Damien."

- She did.

Woke me up.

- I know.

This is... Is it on there?

Is it on here?

"A place to grow."

- Right there.

- And not only is it a place to grow for individuals, but it's a place to grow for us.

It's a place to grow, of course, the crops and stuff.

But even our volunteers say they get so much more out of it than they think we get out of it, or our kids get out of it.

- We're planting seeds in people's lives, which is creating a harvest beyond what we ever imagined.

The face of our community's changed.

People's lives have changed at the farm.

We had no idea what ag was planting... Having a sense of purpose.

- Independence.

Confidence.

- Confidence.

Our farm does so much, and it started with ag.

Just as simple as planting a seed, not only in soil, but in people's lives.

It's amazing.

- Okay.

The idea is fantastic.

The ambition is wonderful.

You don't know anything about farming.

- No.

- No.

- That was the problem.

- No.

We literally googled everything.

I'm going to talk about prayer because I love to pray.

- Oh, yeah.

- But I would pray that the right people would be at the farm when we needed the right people.

Like, God would just bring them in, and maybe they were just there for... Or they were there for a reason, but also a season.

I mean, it was just like, as soon as we needed something, somebody would come by.

"You know what, you guys should get this."

And we're like, "Oh, let's do it."

You know?

And that's how the farm just grew.

- When we decided to make that transition, we went to a lumberyard and bought a couple hundred thousand dollars' worth of wood and built planting beds, something that you could directly interact with.

It's tangible.

You could touch it and interact with it.

In conventional farming, machines are doing it.

We can't go out and be in the field and walk around.

- And they're raised.

- So they're raised beds, so you can reach it with a wheelchair.

You can reach it.

Ergonomically it's correct so they're not bending over too much.

So we have a hundred... How many?

- I don't really know.

I can't even keep track.

- A lot.

- We get so many people coming more and more every day.

It's awesome.

- What are you raising?

- Any vegetable we can.

So we're doing garlic, onions, tomatoes.

10 different tomatoes.

- We were trying to be unique, and like, "Oh, what can people come to the farm and get?"

- Bok choy and stuff.

- But that's some stuff.

It didn't work.

I'm like, "Let's just get the normal, standard things people go to the farmer's market for.

- In summer, asparagus.

- Tomatoes, lots of tomatoes.

- Different types of tomatoes.

- Too many tomatoes.

- But we're a hundred percent organic.

We don't like putting anything in there.

So we like for you to walk our farm, picking and eating as you walk.

The problem is, we can't ever keep any strawberries in those beds.

Everyone's eating those strawberries.

- Everybody eats them.

- It might be the rabbits too.

- True.

- Oh.

- That's true.

- That was funny.

(Damien chuckles) It could be.

- So you knew when you were starting this, I mean, as far as like... you're not going to make money from growing food.

- No.

- No.

- You know what our ROI is at our farm?

You know what ROI is, right?

- Return on something.

Investment, yeah.

- Return on impact.

- Oh, you changed it.

- He changed it.

- Return on impact.

- I'm guessing he does that a lot.

- Yeah.

So our ROI at Navarro Farm is not financial, but it's the impact on people's lives and the community.

It's so powerful.

Matter of fact, we just had a school out this Monday.

I had a field trip from Dunlap?

- Dunlap.

- Dunlap School District 323 came out, and they were blown away.

They heard about us in a farm magazine.

- They drove two and half- - They drove from Dunlap to... - They were just there yesterday.

- Just there.

Yeah.

- Huh.

- Incredible people.

- I mean, honestly, that's great.

But I'm a little sad that they would have to travel that far.

- They said there was nothing over here.

- We're getting lots of field trips.

We get lots of field trips.

- We have thousands.

- Lots of transition groups that come, that just want to be out at the farm.

- Is this kids with abilities?

- Yes.

- Different abilities.

- So again, after high school, what is there?

So they go to transition school.

And that's 18 to 22.

- And after that, there is nothing.

- And they teach life skills there.

So a lot of these kids come to the farm just to get out.

They do job coaching, and then they just try to keep the kids out in the community.

So they come to the farm, and then they're just like, "What can we do?"

And we give them stuff to work on.

- It surprises me because I don't... It's funny what life kind of directs you to.

I mean, it seems like in the last six months, we've interviewed so many people that had agriculture and have had people with Downs and autism and dementia and stuff like that.

And every single one of them... One of the gals we interviewed, she's like, "Oh, this is great.

But last time you interviewed me, we got so many calls because nobody else offers this stuff."

She was almost worried about the influx.

There's a demand there.

- Oh, yes.

- What's the problem?

Why aren't people meeting that demand?

- There's just not enough outlets.

They're not seeing... I'd put it this way, having a child with different abilities.

It's such a blessing, first and foremost.

People have no idea.

- So much to offer.

- A lot of times we're so focused on trying to teach them how to live, but if we just paid attention to the community and who they are, they'd teach us how to live.

- There is no judgment with them, and they love you for who you are.

They accept you.

I mean, they're the most... - I'm really bad at all those.

Yeah.

- You should work on that.

- I should.

- You should come to our farm.

- It will change your life.

- It will change your life.

Two things will change your life, moist wipes and our farm.

(Rob and Sherri laugh) I'm just saying.

- Oh my gosh.

(Sherri laughs) Okay.

- But it's just amazing, the community, and how they are.

We have multiple events, but we have one, again, that'll change your life.

It's called... - Farms Got Talent.

- [Rob] Farms Got Talent.

- Farms Got Talent.

We let these individuals show off their talents, whatever it is.

They get the full stage, like a realistic, full-blown stage.

- A semi comes in like a transformer, opens up, and they have a world-class stage with a sound crew and a lighting crew.

They get up in there and perform.

We do sound checks the day before.

- They give it all they got.

They get up there with no problem.

- Singing, magic... - Dancing, magic.

- Any jugglers?

- No, we don't have a juggler yet.

- No, not yet.

- I can't do it either.

- We have magic.

We had one do magic.

- It's an awesome thing, but that's our farm's biggest fundraiser that we have.

- And that night you will see their capabilities.

You won't see disabilities.

- No, it will change your life.

- You will see their capabilities.

And that's what blows you away.

You know what's interesting?

Through ag and what we do at the farm, it's changed a couple individuals, dramatically, with autism.

So being on the spectrum, there are certain triggers that you have, and some of them are social skills that they lack.

But playing with the goats, interacting with the goats, doing husbandry, they call it, taking care of them, they developed this confidence to communicate.

We had two of them go up there and sing on stage one night.

The parents thought they would never even talk to people.

They barely made eye contact, got up on stage and killed it.

They sang some Disney song and something else.

- [Rob] That's crazy.

- And all that's through the animals, I believe.

- We're out of time.

- More time.

- It's time to go.

- I tell you what, I want you guys to come back next week.

Can you do that?

- Yep.

- Where can people find you?

Social media, websites, any of that.

- Facebook, Instagram.

Those are the two main ones.

- I think we have a Twitter.

We do have stuff on YouTube, but we need to update it.

- Yeah, you do.

- I know.

It's really... - You can just call us.

- Or call us.

Or come to Frankfort and come check us out.

- Okay.

We've gotta talk about all this stuff.

We've got a lot.

I don't want you guys to go anywhere.

I want you to come back next week, and we're going to be talking more with Damien and Sherri Navarro.

Guys, thank you very much.

And not just for being on the show, but literally for making the world a better place.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next week.

(inspiring rock music) (inspiring rock music continues) If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to explore more of our local content.

You can connect with us on our social media platforms, visit our website, or download and watch the free PBS app.

We can't wait to see you next time on "A Shot of Ag."