Marcus Landry, a former Wisconsin Badgers standout and NBA forward, retired from professional basketball at age 35 to farm the Wisconsin countryside.
Landry has transformed a 13-acre suburban plot in Milwaukee into the thriving Beulah Family Homestead near East Troy, a sanctuary aimed at teaching the next generation.
The transition began unexpectedly during the COVID-19 pandemic after Landry suffered an injury. What started as a simple trip to get eggs for his wife turned into a full-scale agricultural operation. Today, the farm manages roughly 20 acres and a diverse roster of livestock, including Clydesdale horses, Highland cattle, and turkeys.
For Landry, the pivot was about more than just a change of scenery; it was a call to action.
“I was actually preparing to go back and play basketball at the time,” he says. “But I knew I would be home for a while, and I just didn’t know what the world was coming to at that moment. So it was like, do what I know to do.”
Beyond producing food, the Beulah Family Homestead serves as a classroom. Through partnerships with 4-H and local youth programs, Landry brings students from the inner city out to the farm to raise animals and launch their own small businesses. He sees the farm as a tool for “holistic” healing, combining his free city basketball camps with hands-on agricultural training to help youth find a new path.
“You can come into our program, and you can leave after a year or two with your own business, and we just help you to flourish in that area,” he says. “We had kids that were just doing some very dangerous stuff… and through the basketball program and the farming, they changed their lives around.”
As Landry looks toward the future, he plans to expand further, with sights set on an additional 51 acres and new initiatives like “Shopping in the Garden,” which will allow families to harvest their own groceries directly from the land.
