Clarke Central High School Class of 2015 alumnus and Cozybear Nursery owner and founder Deijhon Yearby holds a pink chrysanthemum outside of one of his greenhouses on Sept. 29. Throughout the three years of owning his business, Yearby has built relationships with his customers. “I’m honest with them and I don’t put up (an) advertising wall or try to use promotional tricks and stuff,” Yearby said. “I’m just gonna say, ‘Hey, I have a really good quality plant here and if you need help keeping it alive, I will help you. I don’t want you buying from me because you think it’s a sympathy thing.’” Photo by Lucas Donnelly
CCHS Class of 2015 alumnus and Cozybear Nursery owner and founder Deijhon Yearby has pursued his passion for plants through his business.
Planting, watering, pruning, fertilizing and caretaking— Clarke Central High School Class of 2015 alumnus and Cozybear Nursery owner and founder Deijhon Yearby carefully nourishes each of what he calls his “plant babies” from seed to sprout to fully-grown flora.
Less than 10 years after graduating high school, Yearby has built a career for himself as a farmer and entrepreneur, tapping into his passion: plants.
“I haven’t had a plant I wasn’t able to grow. I grew a banana tree and they don’t even really grow in this area,” Yearby said. “There is some type of feeling you get when you take that one small little plant and you can grow it into this gigantic thing.”
Yearby’s journey with greenery started during his time at CCHS, where his teachers and classes helped him discover his passion and inspired him to pursue a career in agriculture.
“When I was in school, I always told all my teachers (that) I hate being inside. So one of my teachers was like,‘Okay, well, you just answered the question of: Do you want an inside job or an outside job?’ (Former CCHS Career, Technical and Agricultural Education department teacher Jeff Holland) got me into the (agriculture) world by making us do all the chores that he didn’t want to do in the greenhouse.”
Clarke Central High School Class of 2015 alumnus and Cozybear Nursery owner and founder Deijhon Yearby works in his nursery on Sept. 29. Throughout the three years of owning his business, Yearby has built relationships with his customers in order to keep them interested in his product. “I’m honest with them and I don’t put up (an) advertising wall or try to use promotional tricks and stuff,” Yearby said. “I’m just gonna say ‘Hey, I have a really good quality plant here and if you need help keeping it alive, I will help you. I don’t want you buying from me because you think it’s a sympathy thing.’” Photo by Lucas Donnelly
After graduating from CCHS and earning a degree in Agricultural Science, from Athens Technical College, Yearby worked as an Assistant Farm Manager at Williams Farm for Athens Land Trust (ALT). His dream, however, was to work for himself as the owner/manager of a nursery, where plants are started from seeds and grown to be bought and planted by customers.
“( Yearby has) always struck me as never, ever really being content with what he’s got going. He always thinks it can be better so he’s constantly striving to make his business better. He’s also a really hard worker and he’s really passionate about farming and growing plants,” Williams Farm Manager Steph Nivens, who works with Yearby almost daily, said. “It’s impressive to see somebody so young who knows what they want (and) where they want to go.”
As Yearby worked towards his dream of owning his own nursery, the Athens community provided him the support he needed.
“Working through (the ALT), I really got to see the (Athens) community. I like to say there are small bubbles within this town, and if you don’t branch out from your bubble you just don’t know what’s going on,” Yearby said. “The best way to describe Athens is it’s a community where if you do bet on yourself, there are people here that will support you.”
One of the community members that supported Yearby was Amy Flurry, who owns and operates a boutique communications and development firm in Athens. Flurry met Yearby while he was working at the West Broad Farmers’ Market through the ALT.
“He was working with other people (at the West Broad Farmers’ Market) and he was just very open, very positive, he acknowledged (me), and that was how I got to know him because I was a regular shopper there,” Flurry said. “Because he knew I worked with entrepreneurs, we just had great conversations and I could see he was piecing together what it meant to be a farmer.”
“I really got to see the (Athens) community. I like to say there are small bubbles within this town, and if you don’t branch out from your bubble you just don’t know what’s going on. The best way to describe Athens is it’s a community where if you do bet on yourself, there are people here that will support you.”
— Deijhon Yearby,
Cozybear Nursery owner and founder
In 2019, Yearby achieved his dream and was able to open Cozybear Nursery after working for about three years with the ATL and operating a market garden to make money.
“Working for (Williams Farm) was awesome, but I also felt like, ‘Man, I don’t really like doing this at all.’ I know a couple of people that really enjoy vegetable farming, but in the back of my mind I was like, ‘I hate weeding and I hate harvesting. The only thing I like is when we grow plants,’” Yearby said. “So (when Cozybear Nursery opened), I just felt a sense of ease, like, ‘Yeah, I feel like this is the right move.’”
An episode of Cozybear Farms, Clarke Central Class of 2015 and Cozybear Nursery owner Deijhon Yearby’s podcast, is shown. Yearby started the podcast in 2020 in order to better educate people about growing and caring for plants. “I do it because I do like educating people about how to grow plants correctly or how to deal with plant problems,” Yearby said. “I will sell a plant to somebody and then they come back to me and say they killed it. And I feel like all of these (plants) are my babies, so when you come back to me and you tell the plant dad, ‘Hey, I just killed like one of your kids,’ it’s kind of like, ‘You did what?’ And then (I) gotta think, ‘Okay, I’ll just sell you another plant. But because these are perennials they last forever, so how did you kill this?’ And they when they would tell me how they would do it I’d be like, ‘Okay, I need to educate you on how to take care of this plant.’”
CCHS English department teacher Brian Ash taught Yearby while he was at CCHS, and has enjoyed watching him grow into his passion for agriculture. Ash believes that Yearby’s dedication towards his goal makes him a role model for CCHS students.
“He’s a kid who kind of blended in the crowd (at CCHS), but it really highlights and illustrates how special everybody is when they find their thing. I’m really glad that he puts his enthusiasm out there for us to see,” Ash said. “That’s what the kids need to see, they need to see people who’ve gone out and made it through (CCHS). They need to see there’s lots of different ways to be successful.”
Similar to Ash, Yearby hopes that CCHS students can learn from his journey and find a career in something they are passionate about.
“If you want to be (an) entrepreneur, be completely open-minded. You’re not gonna know what you want to do so keep your options open,” Yearby said. “If you’re getting into (the agricultural world) because you want to make a lot of money, you’re not going to be successful. But if you get into it because it’s something that you’re passionate about, then you will make a lot of money and you’ll be happy.”
