August 20, 2022
By: Dwayne Page
The DeKalb County Democratic Party has a new leader.
Liberty area farmer Jonathan Bradley was named last Monday by the local Democratic Executive Committee as Chairman of the party. He succeeds Billie Ann Tubbs-Trigueros who recently resigned as Chairman.
Bradley said he is excited about this opportunity and is anxious to get better acquainted with the people of DeKalb County.
A native of Georgia, Bradley and his wife Heather moved to Nashville in 1998 and then relocated to DeKalb County in 2014 where they started Quarter Spring Farm on a 64-acre homestead on Davis Hollow Road in the Liberty and Dowelltown area.
“Here at Quarter Spring Farm we strive to grow good, all-natural food for ourselves and our friends and neighbors in Middle Tennessee. We raise chickens, sheep, and veggies to eat, and we keep goats for milk and entertainment. We are always experimenting with new projects to make us more food independent, including everything from honey bees to shiitake mushrooms. Our methods are ecologically conscious and sustainable, and we are always trying to improve our relationships with the land and our community. I worked in restaurants for a long time and started to learn a pretty good bit about the industrial food system but I came to realize that industrial farming is not healthy for anyone involved: from the producer to the consumer to the plant or animal being so unnaturally grown. So we came out here to live a better alternative,” said Bradley.
“We first got into goats as a source for milk and cheese. But we quickly learned that goats are rowdy and entertaining, just like us. We started experimenting with making goat’s milk soap several years ago. Now we make all sorts of eco-friendly, goat-derived beauty products,” he continued.
“We usually have chicken, goat’s milk soap, eggs, and ducks to sell and I do a good portion of the soap business through my website but we are also at the farmer’s market on the square in Murfreesboro on Saturdays and we do big craft shows and fairs. We have done the Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree a couple of times,” Bradley continued.
Although Bradley had always been interested in politics, he hadn’t decided to get more personally involved until the events of January 6, 2021 in Washington DC.
“I just didn’t feel like I could stand on the sidelines anymore,” said Bradley
“As Chairman of the DeKalb County Democratic Party, one of the things I would like to do is share with the community at large where my values and the values of the Democratic Party come together in ways that can benefit our community,” he added.