D2_Agraria_Journal_21_OPT

AGRARIA JOURNAL 2021 19 but he never taught Caressa to garden because he wanted her to focus on getting an education. She was a part of the first generation in her family to receive a K-12 education in one school system, and one of the first in her family to earn a college degree and take advantage of opportunities that her father and grandfather never dreamed possible. She has a bachelor’s degree in organizational/educational leadership and is now working on a degree in urban affairs. Caressa begged her father for years to help her start and garden, and in 2019 he drove up from Texas to build a small garden box in her backyard and teach her the basics of gardening. She fell in love with the process and power of growing her own food. So much so, that it fueled her quiet dream of owning a farm, and she flooded her Facebook timeline with updates about her garden and her desire to own a farm. Kenisha, who had moved back to Ohio to help care for her ailing father, saw Caressa’s post, and reached out to her with an offer: the opportunity to grow on her family-owned property in Trotwood, which had lain dormant for years. Caressa’s vision sparked Kenisha’s desire to reconnect with the land—and that alchemy generated two new local food ventures in Dayton— Kenisha’s Nourganic Life Farm and Caressa’s Veggie Soul: The Urban Farmers’ Market. The two women completed The Ohio State University Extension’s New and Beginning Farm College and went on to obtain GAPS Certifications from Cornell University, in 2020. They also attended the first annual Black Farming Conference: Beyond “40 Acres and a Mule,” last year and recently became members of the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association. Kenisha’s initial goal for Nourganic Life Farm was to plant a variety of vegetables to get an idea of what would grow on the land. A friend with tractor plowed, tilled and disked a small patch of land for them; they purchased a few hand tools and enlisted some family and friends to assist with planting and harvesting. The experience helped renew Kenisha’s connection to and love of nature. She not only wants to restore the land that her family once worked but also use it to help her community. Caressa’s goals for Veggie Soul: The Urban Farmers’ Market was to partner with churches located in West Dayton and Trotwood to host a weekly traveling farmers market and also teach residents of the two communities how to garden at a community plot in West Dayton. This initiative brought out multiple generations to learn to garden throughout the summer of 2020. However, due to COVID-19 related shutdowns, the churches closed their doors, and the market end of this community outreach initiative did not get off of the ground. Kenisha and Caressa opted to donate their first-year harvest to those who requested it and gave the remaining produce away to family and friends. They plan to continue encouraging area residents to adopt self-sustaining and self-sufficient lifestyles by growing their own food, not only for their consumption but also to produce fresh, non-pesticide grown produce for sale direct to the community. Kenisha, who never dreamed that she would one day become a farmer, has reconnected with her farming roots, continuing the legacy her father worked so hard to leave for his family. She now sees farming and growing your own food as a necessity, rather than an option. “It’s interesting how history repeats itself,” she says. Kenisha Robinson is program assistant for the Regenerative Farming Fellowship Program and also one of six Fellows participating in the program. “For her grandparents and great grandparents, farming to feed their family was a necessity, not an option." KENISHA ROBINSON Friends and family pitched in to help prepare the ground and plant the first crops in Nouorganic Farm.