Agraria Journal Winter 2021

This year they served as a training site for two beginning farmers with Agraria’s Regenerative Farmer Fellowship program; one grew cut flowers and the other raised plants in the greenhouse SOUP leases from a local organization. Melrose Acres also hosted interns for the first time from Wittenberg University, sponsored two film series in partnership with the Springfield Library, and offered several courses in partnership with Central State University Extension (CSUE). This fall CSUE is partnering on a diabetes awareness workshop at the Springfield City School District’s School of Innovation, a PBL center, and a second series of nutrition classes focused on soil health for middle and high school students. CSUE is also collaborating with the Center on a garlic workshop, using the bountiful harvest produced this year in the garden, and a season extension workshop using a recently donated cold frame. “We want to show what people can do in their own backyards,” said Sherry. She is acutely aware of her role and place in the South Springfield neighborhoods in which she works. She is white, and an outsider, in a predominantly black neighborhood, and she has learned a lot about white privilege through her food system work over the years. The question for her is, “How do we bring white privilege to the table to be of use, but not take it too far.” So often, she said, the power in communities of color is usurped by agencies, typically white-led agencies. “My goal is to keep power and decision making within this part of the community, within the neighborhood.” She has involved neighborhood residents in the development of Melrose Acres from the outset. The Center’s name, in fact, grew from that involvement. Originally dubbed McCain Acres, after the street on which it is located, the Melrose Acres Food and Farm Advisory committee, which is composed of mostly current of former neighborhood residents, decided to rename it Melrose Acres, after the historic neighborhood in which it is located. A member of that advisory committee once gave Sherry a piece of advice that resonates with her: “Do things with us, not to us.” “That has guided our work,” she said. “Everything I do, I try to get people into leadership positions, and then I step back.” Amy Harper is project manager at Agraria and co-editor of Agraria Journal. AGRARIA JOURNAL 2021 35 AMY HARPER The house adjoining the Melrose Acres garden will be upgraded to serve as a meeting and educational space. AMY HARPER Melrose Acres farm manager Sherry Chen checks plants in a new cold frame.