Welcome to Camp 8 Garden: Where We Grow Food, Freedom & Foolishness

Eric & Maleka Beal
2 days ago
3 min read

Rooted in wellness. Watered with wisdom. Grown with love… and a little bit of jazz.

We didn’t set out to become gardeners. Honestly, we were just trying to grow some tomatoes and mind our business. But somewhere between planting basil and raising chickens with diva attitudes, Camp 8 became more than a backyard. It became a mindset. A lifestyle. A vibe.

Welcome to Camp 8 Garden: our soulful little homestead powered by BetterChoices, Southern heat, soil, and a deep-rooted desire to live well, eat better, and reclaim our health one seed at a time.

🎬 Why We Named It Camp 8

If you’ve ever seen the movie Life with Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence, you already know the brilliance. For us, that movie is more than comedy, it’s cultural. It’s classic. It’s the unofficial film and soundtrack of our relationship.

So when we started this garden, the names came naturally:

Camp 8 Garden → Where it all goes down
Ray’s Boom Boom Chicken Room → The coop (because our hens are definitely performing nightly)
Spanky’s Place → The polytunnel for our diva cucumbers, kale, and beans.
The Baseball Field → The row where things sometimes go left… but we keep swinging anyway

We flipped a prison camp into a place of power. That’s the point. What was once confinement is now cultivation. Where they “did time,” we now grow life.

🌱 Rooted in Wellness (Not Just Soil)

This isn’t just about cucumbers and collards. Camp 8 is an extension of everything we stand for at BetterChoices: structure, clarity, sustainability, and small steps that make a big difference.

Gardening teaches you everything:

Patience when the seeds don’t sprout
Trust when the weather doesn’t cooperate
Discipline when you want to quit

You think you’re growing food, but really, you’re growing peace. Presence. Power. That’s what we mean by rooted in wellness.

We’re learning in real time, and we’re not ashamed of the messy middle. Some days we feel like expert farmers. Other days we’re googling “why is my lemon plant looking sad?” But that’s the whole journey, same as health. You don’t need perfection. You need progress.

💡 Want to Start Growing? Here’s Where You Begin:

1. Start Where You Are: Don’t wait for a backyard or the perfect setup. One pot. One plant. One window sill. That’s enough.

2. Use What You Have: No fancy tools needed. Old storage bins? Use 'em. Milk jugs? Cut ‘em. Chicken poop? Gold.

3. Plant What You Eat: Love greens? Start with collards or kale. Crave spice? Grow peppers. Let your plate guide your plot.

4. Be OK With Ugly: Everything won’t grow pretty. Some things won’t grow at all. Still worth it.

5. Keep Showing Up: You can’t out-hustle nature. But you can keep showing up, watering, weeding, and waiting.

🎥 The Coop Reveal Is Coming… 👀

Yes, it’s real. Ray’s Boom Boom Chicken Room is officially the hottest club on the garden circuit. Think moody lighting, jazz-era energy, and hens with main character vibes. We’re dropping the full video tour soon, so stay tuned.

🍳 From the Garden to Your Plate (and Podcast)

What we grow at Camp 8 doesn’t stop in the soil. It’s showing up in our weekly meal plans, our Let's Cook! Recipe Club, and even episodes of our upcoming Small Steps podcast.

Because when you take control of what you grow…You take control of what you eat. And when you take control of what you eat, you change your life.