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A Walk in His Garden: The Journey of a Local Urban Agriculturalist

By Mariah Hicks
Sojourner’s Truth Reporter
 

Toledo area residents gathered in the McMaster Room of the Main Branch Library last Thursday evening to hear speakers discuss urban agriculture laws on behalf of local urban farmer, Thomas Jackson.

Over the past few years, Jackson has had a goal of growing organic foods. With about 30 vacant lots throughout the city under his possession, he set out to fulfill his vision. Unfortunately for those plans, he has been met with conflict.

Neighbors and the City have filed complaints about the way in which he tended to the lots. These action have led to days in court, 30-plus violations from the city and a $3,000 fine to close the case.

Jackson’s interest in growing organic foods started when concerns about his children’s health arose. After visiting the doctor, it was recommended that his children adopt healthier eating habits. In attempt to better their health, Jackson decided to utilize the lots that he possessed. He started taking classes and eventually ended up with 13 growing certificates that gave him greater knowledge of what he was getting into.

To avoid the issue of the present soil being toxic, Jackson used a method to create new soil. He had tree companies dump woodchips on the properties to begin the foundation for his gardens, a process that many wouldn’t understand. Woodchips break down into their own organic soil between the time span of one and two years. To dodge the possibility of contaminating his food, Jackson decided to start fresh.

The problem that arose came from the woodchips. To those who complained, they were deemed a nuisance because of the growing odor and cause of rodents. “Most people don’t understand that there’s like 150 neighbors that signed a petition that said they loved what I’m doing. There were less than nine neighbors that were opposing it and in the past maybe, seven months, half of those nine are helping me now,” Jackson said.

The turn that Jackson’s story took was a surprise to many and Thursday night people had the opportunity to come out and show their support as well as hear about what type of action was being taken on Jackson’s behalf.

The evening consisted of the showing of a short film “Reclaiming the Landscape: Urban Agriculture in Toledo” produced by Steven Boatman. Followed by the film were words from Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken, Toledo City Council Member Sandy Spang, co-chairman of the Lucas County Green Party Sean Nestor, Lucas County Auditor Anita Lopez and Jackson himself.

Sean Nestor briefly discussed The Right to Grow Ordinance, which is a proposal for a law that addresses urban agriculture issues. Though there are no published details as of right now, Nestor assured that there would be a completed draft within the next month.

“Philosophically, we have two things we wanted to make sure were put through this ordinance. One is that growers are in the driver’s seat for what is going to happen, and the second is that we don’t want to make the mistake of passing a legislation that initially appears to grant a lot of freedom, but also puts up a lot of barriers,” Nestor said, “We want to make sure that we are opening doors and not closing them.”

A team of people consisting of community gardeners, urban agriculturalists and Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE) have worked on identifying problems and solutions to make sure farmers have the opportunity to flourish and city governments have a clearer set of directions on what to do, according to Nestor.

“What we want is, out of this process, is to try to narrow down problems people have as growers and what other cities have done to address those problems, that’s as simple as we need to go,” Nestor said.

Jackson briefly shared some words highlighting his genuine dedication to the journey he had started. “I’m the type of person who holds the mentality that if you’re walking through trash and your kids are walking through trash, it’s not long before you start thinking that you’re trash,” Jackson said.

According to the urban farmer, his project was beyond personal reasons; he wanted to share his gift with those around him. “I just wanted to beautify the neighborhood, redevelop the neighborhood,” Jackson said.

He described the turn that his work took as “discouraging” and hopes that no-one else has to go through the problems that he faced throughout the period of his project. “When you’re doing something right, there’s going to be a lot of people that hate it,” Jackson said.

Council Member Spang shared some encouraging words for Jackson. As an entrepreneur herself, she viewed him as a kindred spirit – an urban agricultural entrepreneur. Out of this negative situation, she wants the community to be able to see a positive outcome.

“It’s really my hope that out of this negative situation we’re going to see something positive which is we’re going to have clear, reasonable regulations that will allow people to go forward knowing what’s expected of them,” said Spang.

Jackson believes that his support system was heaven sent. Throughout this process, he has had the ability to connect with people who are just as passionate about what he’s doing as he is. His plans are to continue moving forward even though he’s faced opposition. Despite what else he may endure throughout his journey, he has high faith in God and his support system to get him through.

   
   


Copyright © 2017 by [The Sojourner's Truth]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 08/16/18 14:12:34 -0700.


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A Walk in His Garden: The Journey of a Local Urban Agriculturalist


 


   

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