Inspire Baltimore Dinner with Rick Bernstein, Fresh Fruit Farms

CBMC's Baltimore Connect3 team organized the "Inspire Baltimore" dinner on October 10, 2024, with Rick Bernstein, the Executive Director of First Fruits Farm, as our guest speaker. CBMC stands for Christian Business Men’s Connection. CBMC helps marketplace men find meaning and purpose through a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you work in Baltimore and would like to participate in our weekly Zoom team meeting, or be informed of future events, please contact us. 

Rick spent most of his career managing money, not vegetables. First Fruit Farm was started as a small family enterprise in 1998 while Rick was working as a partner at Brown Advisory. In 2017, Rick transitioned from a successful career in investment management “to become a gardener” full-time at First Fruits Farm. Rick shared his incredible journey of faith and service.

Rick and his wife Carol have dedicated themselves to cultivating fresh produce at First Fruits Farm, which is then donated to organizations supporting needy families in their community. Their dream was to plant and harvest produce from their fields using a volunteer work force and donate the resulting fresh produce to organizations serving needy families and individuals in the community.

The Bernstein's are quick to give all the glory to God and are grateful for the many volunteers who support the farm. And, while it does take a village to make First Fruits Farm work, the Bernsteins rely on God for each aspect of the ministry. The Farm's story has inspired many over the years, and word of their ministry has spread thanks to articles in numerous local publications, along with media coverage and accolades given in acknowledgment of the Farm's good work. Click here to read these articles and more.

Gardening was the first work that God gave to man.

Tim Keller writes: “Work has dignity because it is something that God does and because we do it in God’s place, as his representatives. God’s own work in Genesis 1 and 2 is “manual” labor, as he shapes us out of the dust of the earth, deliberately putting a spirit in a physical body, and as he plants a garden (Genesis 2:8). In Genesis we see God as a gardener, and in the New Testament we see him as a carpenter.” (Timothy Keller, Every Good Endeavor)

This event was not recorded due to the small, intimate nature of the dinner. If you would like to see other CBMC Maryland event videos, please visit our YouTube channel at: https://youtube.com/@cbmcmaryland.