Back in 2015, "Top Chef: California" aired, featuring challenges filmed all throughout the state. Chef Jeremy Ford was crowned the victor, besting Chef Amar Santana (who would then return to compete in Top Chef: World All Stars just last year), after a highly competitive season also featuring "fan favorite" Chef Isaac Toups, along with some other favorites, namely Chefs Karen Akunowicz, Marjorie Meek-Bradley and Carl Dooley.

Ford won the first elimination challenge (as many eventual "Top Chef" winners tend to do), followed by further QuickFires and elimination challenge wins prior to his crowning in the finale. His "Top Chef" journey was pretty linear, starting with vigor, sliding into the middle-of-the-pack as the competition wore on and then emerging towards the end of the competition as an intrepid, talented chef with clear-cut vision and insight into all things food, flavor and dish composition.

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Now, almost ten years after filming, Ford oversees two restaurants — including The Butcher's Club and the Michelin-starred Stubborn Seed in Miami — and has also recently opened his own farm, Ford Farms, which is now producing much of the fresh produce that he uses in his dishes at his restaurants.

Salon Food had the opportunity to speak with Ford about his balancing fatherhood and restaurant life, his time on "Top Chef," what led him to farming, how food and cooking initially captured him and more.

Chef Jeremy Ford, winner of Season 13 of "Top Chef" and owner of the restaurant Stubborn Seed. (Grove Bay Hospitality Group)

The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Can you tell me about Ford Farms? What led to your wanting to get into farming?

It actually kind of started as a different idea. I pulled the permits and plans to build a test kitchen at my house because it's difficult to create recipes when I'm at the restaurant — there are a million and one things to be done and questions to be asked, so I designed a test kitchen in my backyard. It started off in a very creative place, but then it grew to why it would be so small? It kind of drew me to, how can we do this with more space? And then the rabbit hole began. We started searching for properties and it started at two acres, then four and now we are at five.

It gave us the opportunity to creatively design food, growing vegetables and fruits. Then it eventually led to us thinking — let’s do a full-on farm. Fast forward to 10 months, now we’re planning on having chickens in the coming months and then pigs as well.

Do you use produce from the farms at Stubborn Seed and The Butcher's Club?

We’re using the produce at Stubborn right now. Farmers in Miami typically stop farming around in the summer or even earlier and take a three month break because it's so hot. We’re still growing because we’re like why not? Let's see what happens.

Pests are amplified by a thousand during the summer time........

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