Back to the Roots

Posted October 8, 2010

A NATIVE OF BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Edwin Marty fell in love with the concept of urban farming after attending college and graduate school on the West Coast, and working at farms throughout California, Mexico and Central America.

When he returned home to Alabama, he knew what he wanted to do: replicate the concept of urban farming, starting with what he called “the worst potential farmland” — a vacant concrete lot in downtown Birmingham.

“Historically, Birmingham was great for making steel and very bad for growing food,” Edwin says. “But it became a personal mission of mine, to take this land, use organic farming methods, and turn it into something productive.”

That was 2001. Today, the project — Jones Valley Urban Farm — has grown exponentially.  Edwin started Jones Valley Urban Farm with just $1,000 of his own money and began to build the farm through partnerships with the city of Birmingham and several other entities.

Through its downtown farm and another in Mt. Laurel, Ala., Jones Valley now raises about $100,000 in annual sales from its organic produce.  Produce and flowers are distributed through farmers markets, grocery stores and local restaurants. People can also buy subscriptions to the farm in exchange for monthly portions of vegetables. Still others rent garden beds where they can grow vegetables on their own — and the renters are a diverse group according to Edwin:

“We have a surgeon who pulls up in her Porsche every day to work on her garden. Right next to her is a man who grew up in public housing and doesn’t have a job, but he’s great at growing tomatoes. He gives her gardening advice.  They all live in Birmingham,” Edwin adds. “Otherwise, the demographic is all over the board.”

Elisa Munoz is part of that large demographic. She fell in love with Jones Valley Farm about a year and a half ago. She found that working the land helped relieve stress in addition to producing great-tasting vegetables.

When she recently lost her retail job because of the recession, she found a new calling as program coordinator for Greater Birmingham Community Food Partners, whose mission is to provide “fresh, healthy food for all.”

Partnering with Jones Valley Urban Farm in her new job, Elisa says she’s found her “happy place” as well as a passion for work that she would never trade to return to retail business.

Education about the urban- and organic-farming movement is key to the Jones Valley mission. Every day, Birmingham schoolchildren visit the farm, taste the food, learn about gardening and come to understand the connection between food and its origin. “They learn that vegetables come from seeds, that they are delicious when picked at their freshest, and that fresh, local food can be far better than packaged goods,” Edwin says. “There is such a huge disconnect. They don’t realize that edible eggs come directly from chickens. We can show them that here.”

Ultimately, he hopes that by teaching adults and children alike how to grow their own produce, people will replicate the example in their own communities. “The dream is to have a community farm in every neighborhood throughout Alabama,” Edwin says.

Finally, Edwin notes that he likes to consider Jones Valley Urban Farm an ambassador for the city. “When people fly or drive into the city, we’re often the first place they see in Birmingham,” he says. “It changes peoples’ perspectives of Birmingham when they see people working out in the sun, being healthy and growing healthy food.”

For more information, please visit www.jvuf.org.

Recently, Regions associates in the company's Management Associate Program and the INROADS Internship Program enjoyed volunteering at Jones Valley Urban Farm, doing outdoor farm and gardening work. They also filmed a documentary video of their experience. INROADS is a non-profit career development organization for talented minority youth.

REGIONS is a proud supporter of Jones Valley Urban Farm.

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