Her small urban farm in Columbus ‘breaks down barriers’ one vegetable at a time

Columbus native Abike Alexander is slowly transforming a wooded lot beside her house into an urban farm.

Tomato plants, collard greens and other leafy vegetables are flourishing in the already large garden, a new sight in the historically Black Radcliff neighborhood off Buena Vista Road.

The farm is visible from Lawyers Lane, and Alexander said people often stop to take pictures, ask if they can have some collards or compliment the beauty of the vegetables and plants.

Oftentimes, people just stop and stare.

“A lot of times, (visitors) end up walking down here,” Alexander said. “We walk through, and we talk about it, and the most common story is that, ‘Wow, my grandma had a garden when I was growing up,’ or ‘My mom has this beautiful garden … .’ It automatically just breaks down barriers, and people want to have that conversation of what family means to them and what food means to them.”

The garden is in transition as Alexander prepares to plant a fall crop. She plans to grow onions, mustard greens, cabbages, broccoli, beets and radishes.

More than a garden

The farm is the backbone of Alexander’s brainchild, Durty Beets, which not only provides fresh vegetables for sale but also prepared meals, workshops, educational programs and assistance with cultivating gardens.

Last year, she experimented with different ways to get the food into the community, like selling at a farmers market and advertising extra produce on social media.

Her most recent collaboration was the creation of a garden at the Liberty Theatre downtown. Alexander said she’s looking forward to collaborating with the owners of Dew Point Farms to sell produce, as well as sell with MercyMed’s farmers market.

Expanding the farm beside her house is one of the long-term goals. Obtaining a farm number from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is another, to help legitimize her efforts and allow access to funding for the farm. Registering for a farm number helps the government identify farms and allows owners to apply for programs and loans.

Adding a beehive, flower garden and irrigation system are other initiatives she hopes to incorporate into the Durty Beets farm little by little, but the mission always will be much broader.

“We really would like to get to a point that maybe we’re having a farmers market on the MLK Boulevard,” she said. “Giving people the ability where they can walk a short distance to get good food, just like the convenience stores that are on the corners a short distance. We don’t want to compete with them, but we just want to give people a better option with food.”

She hopes to set up a program where she teaches one neighbor how to grow a garden, and they in turn must show another neighbor how to do the same.

“We want it to just keep rolling through the neighborhood, and that way, at some point, everyone will have maybe a fourth of what they need instead of having to drive a long distance to grocery stores,” Alexander said. “We just want to allow people to have options, to empower themselves and also get to know your neighbor.”

Urban farms not just a ‘fad’

The importance of knowing where your food comes from and having fresh, nutritious food easily accessible has been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, making the purpose of Durty Beets even more focused. Places where there was already a lack of food are now experiencing more severe shortages, and people are searching for fresh produce.

“(Urban farming) was sort of kind of like a fad almost, ... but when COVID hit, it kind of hit home for everyone,” Alexander said. “You had rich, poor, middle class, all rushing to grocery stores, trying to get the last bit of the food. I was actually working in a grocery store at that time, and you really couldn’t tell between the rich and the poor as far as food.”

She said that households with higher incomes also are experiencing nutritional deficits as they focus on what is fast and easy, rather than whole, nutritious foods.

“Now we have more of an active role in the development of food in neighborhoods,” Alexander said. “Now when people hear ‘food injustice,’ it hits a little bit closer to home because COVID doesn’t just affect the poor; it affects all of us.”

To help Columbus residents become more in tune with nature and the food they consume, Alexander will hold an online class called “Grow Your Medicine.” The cost is $10 a class, and she will talk about how to grow medicinal plants, what time of year to grow them and how they can be used.

She’ll use the funds to continue spreading the word about urban farming and the importance of preserving topsoil as well as making nutritional, fresh foods accessible to all.

“A lot of times, urban farms get kind of left out in a lot of the farming funding,” Alexander said, and are looked at as personal gardens. “But urban farms help feed neighborhoods. It helps to bring neighborhoods together. It helps preserve green spaces within neighborhoods. They’re very important, and they need the equal amount of funding as industrial farms get.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 9:00 AM.