Be the Change: From healthcare to farming, a food activist is born

I’m excited to invite you to my conversation with Ivy Walls. Ivy is a farmer, entreprenuer and food justice activist located in Houston, Texas.  Before farming, Ivy worked as an epidemiologist for the CDC and later became an infection preventionist for a hospital in Houston where she worked closely with COVID-19 patients. During the pandemic, Ivy witnessed firsthand how the virus further exposed the inequities faced by her Sunnyside community   – including higher rates of infection and mortality. 

Ivy already had experience gardening for herself, but felt called to grow food for her community when she realized there weren’t local places to source fresh produce without having to drive to another part of town. Serendipitously, the day Ivy quit her job at the hospital, was the day she found out she received a $10k grant from Beyoncés charitable foundation.

Ivy has found that climate change and uncertainty has been the biggest challenge for her as a farmer – and unpredictable floods and other weather events has shortened her growing season, but the value she's brought to her neighborhood by taking the task of providing health affordable food into her own hands has been tremendous.

This is a story about community action, being the change you wish to see, and the power of plants to heal and connect.

Read more about Ivy and see photos from her farm on urbanexodus.com/blog

Transcript

Ivy Walls: 0:00

I would say the advice that I would give is honestly think about when was the last time you were purely absolutely happy. And think about all the skills that you've gained since that moment to actually live and breathe and that purpose. When you find your purpose, it's not a hard feeling. It is somewhere where you just stand and allow everything to flow through you. So I would say think back to those moments where your pure happiness Pure Love Where You were emitting pure love. Were you feeling pure love? That is where you're supposed to be.

Alissa Hessler: 0:33

Have you ever dreamed of making a radical shift? What does it take to build a more intentional life? What is gained from reconnecting with yourself, with community and with the natural world? I'm Alissa Hessler. I've spent the last decade meeting with people all over the world who have made remarkable transitions in their lives. How do they do it? What did they sacrifice? What have they learned? Stepping away from convention isn't easy. But we all have the power to reclaim the things that we've lost, to slow down to change course, to create the life we want for ourselves and for future generations. The urban Exodus podcast shares, practical advice, and inspirational words to embolden and guide you on your own journey. These are the stories of those brave enough to venture down the road less traveled. This is the urban Exodus. Urban Exodus is community supported programming, please consider sponsoring an episode or making a contribution so we can keep these conversations going. The easiest way to contribute is to click the support button on the top of urban exodus.com. You can also become a member of the urban Exodus community, to peruse our archives of hundreds of photo stories and interviews of people who left city life or subscribe to Apple podcast premium to have access to bonus episodes, or rapid fire interviews with guests in our new mini podcast. Ditch the city where I answer listeners questions and offer practical advice on a whole myriad of topics. If you have a question for an upcoming episode that you'd like us to consider, please send us a DM on Instagram, or through our contact us page. Thank you for helping me continue to do this work. I couldn't do it without all of you. And if you haven't already, we would really love it if you'd leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts or Spotify, or whatever service you listen on. And please recommend urban access to your friends. I mix excited to invite you to my conversation with IV walls. IV is a farmer, entrepreneur and food justice activist located in Houston, Texas, before farming IV worked as an epidemiologist for the CDC, and later became an infection preventionist for a hospital in Houston, where she worked closely with COVID 19 patients. During the pandemic IV witnessed firsthand how the virus further exposed the inequities faced by her Sunnyside community, including higher rates of infection and mortality. ivi already had experience gardening for herself. But she felt called to grow food for her community when she realized that there weren't any local places to source fresh produce without having to drive to another part of town. And so began IV Lee farms. Ivy's farm grows produce hosts educational events and offers the CSA IV was able to quit her job after receiving a grant from Beyonce his charitable foundation, which has allowed her to extend her growing fields, build a greenhouse and expand her markets. Well IV misses the camaraderie of her hospital environment. She sees her work in farming as another form of healthcare where she can be more closely rooted with her family, community and the earth. This is a story about community action being the change you wish to see and the power of plants to heal and connect. Alright, so I'm really excited to have on the podcast IV walls and IV has been working tirelessly for the last two years building IV leave farm and the sunny side art of Houston, Texas. And I have been kind of following your journey virtually for the last two years and I'm just absolutely in awe in what you've been able to manifest there and your energy and passion and so I'm really excited to have you on the podcast to talk about that journey and share that Inspiration with others because I think a lot of people see what you have been able to build and are like, Can I do that? Can I do that where I am, and it needs to be this kind of Tumbleweed of more people stepping up and doing this incredible work. So first off, I wondered if you could share a little bit of your personal backstory where you grew up and your journey to where you are now.

Unknown: 5:22

My name is Ivy, Lorraine Lawrence falls. I was born in Houston, Texas and raised in pear land. But if you know there, there is a subset right outside of Houston. And the farm that I grew up on is right in between Houston and Maryland. And so that is in the Sunnyside neighborhood. Growing up I would say I've city country where you go to school and then you end the day on the farm feeding horses. We had chickens and cows and goats, and those kinds of things growing up. My favorite thing tell people with my first pet was a horse. just growing up. I grew up in a very large family. My dad has 17 Brothers and sisters. So that makes me I have 115 first cousins. And so I just have a very large family that's filled with good food laughter outdoors. In love a little bit about my backstory, I went to Purdue nm University, which is historically black college, outside of the Houston area. And I got a degree in biology and a minor in Chemistry. Had a great time there.

Alissa Hessler: 6:25

Let's go back to kind of the beginning stages of your story. You worked in healthcare, you got your degree and biology and chemistry. Before you started the farm, I'd love for you to talk about your previous kind of career path, what your days look like the parts of it that you loved, and the parts that were really difficult.

Unknown: 6:43

After graduation, I went to work for the CDC, which is the Centers for Disease Control in our work in Houston. And I worked on outbreaks, particularly tuberculosis and like gastrointestinal outbreaks. So people who get sick at restaurants in this for like weddings where someone ate a salad, and now everybody has to figure out what's what happened. So setting disease, which is epidemiology, and throughout our environment. And so doing that my favorite parts, were getting an output, right? You get something like, Okay, everybody is sick. And then working backwards is like, how did we get this. So one time, we figured out that everybody got Vibrio from this one wash cloth at a restaurant that they were using to wipe the cooler with as well. And they never washed the wash cloth. Even though they were washing the cooler. They thought everything was clean, but they're using the same wash cloth to rub it down. And so this, we were able to get like, you know, this mass outbreak down to this one wash cloth, and you cannot write a better story. It's so much drama germs, I have so much drama, it's the best, it's the best, so much can come of it. Then I moved over during the pandemic, I was in the hospital system. So I worked for a large hospital system here in Houston, Houston has one of the largest hospital systems in America the longest I should say. And so I worked for a major hospital system here, as an infection preventionist working people say you go into the hospital, you get sicker, and working to combat that, to make sure that people who come into the hospital don't get sick. And the practices that the doctors and nurses were taking did not make get make a patient risk. So that was also very fun. You're like you literally put on the hazmat suit and you're running down to wherever they need you or you're up in the ceiling, making sure that there's not too much dust coming down from the construction, all kinds of cool things. I think the biggest thing was getting that problem and working it backwards and forwards, like we want to prevent it. And this has already happened. What can we do to figure out what's what what happened?

Alissa Hessler: 8:43

So you moved into the hospital system during COVID? What were the early days of COVID, like for you

Unknown: 8:50

confusing what I say? Like November, October 2018. We knew something was up, there was something where our patients, you know, you would see patients just shaking in bed like and you wouldn't know what what is wrong. And you know, we're going in with no mask. We're like, hey, you know, you okay, there, fella. Like, we didn't know what was happening. But there was there was an influx of people coming inside of the hospital and not knowing so the CDC is setting parameters, right? And they can't, they're changing every two days, every hour every 30 minutes. So right now you could be saying, okay, nobody has to wear a mask. And then you're telling people take that mask off, you need to save it. And then the next next hour, it's like, okay, everybody needs to wear a mask. And then not only do you need to wear this mask, but we need to reuse it because we're going to run out of masks. And this all these patients need to be in negative pressure. So we were trying to figure out how we can turn whole hospital wings into negative pressure, because we thought that everyone had to be negative pressure. So just imagine like this a rolling concept of saying something one day and then having to stick to it, and then changing it on the next and it challenges credibility. It challenges meant Holy like, you think you're safe, you're sending nurses in, like sending them into combat, as best way and then turning back around and be like, Okay, actually, that was wrong. And everybody's looking to you. And I'm like, I don't know the answer. By the time I left, there was pretty, it was pretty good grip on it. And we had good grip on it. Yeah, in August of 2020.

Alissa Hessler: 10:21

I would love for you to discuss the point where you decided that you're ready to quit your job and begin farming full time, kind of tell us that transition

Unknown: 10:33

is a crazy one, I would say I just purchased a house in Sunnyside in February. And by March, that will February, March, I started breaking ground. And by August, I knew that one I couldn't maintain my sanity inside of the hospital. And I actually had a really bad, bad COVID in like June, until I like had like memory issues and a lot of brain fog. That's, that's when people were losing their sense of taste and smell. And so I was having a lot of issues with like, keeping up with like emails and like cognitive things. And so I just was like, this is not the way I want to live my life. And it was, it was a really big like, turning point for me personally, like, holistically What do what makes me happy. What, what difference Am I gonna make? I know I'm making a difference in this hospital. But what can I do for my community? What can I do for myself to make me happy, so not old. By the time I got to, to resigning, I had reached a mental point, I reached a point where my community needed me, I'd reached a point where I didn't know how I was going to make it work. I did one plant pop up, made like $1,000 and thought that that was gonna like, as long as it can pay my mortgage, I'll be alright. Like, the first day of me not having a job like I did Monday, I woke up, I won the grant from Beyonce, I won a $10,000 grant from Beyonce and NAACP. Until that same day, I was on the news. And that's what kind of helped solidify me and like, Okay, you made the right decision by taking that bet on yourself, bet on your community bent on this work. But on the land, I mean, because the land is having a boss and having Mother Nature be your boss, to different levels of management. And so I just I took a risk, and it's worked out for not only myself before my community.

Alissa Hessler: 12:26

So your job before was really like detective work essentially, like going in and figuring out solutions. And I would say that farmers do the exact same thing, especially when it comes to the world that we find ourselves in now with climate shifting. And, you know, the patterns that farmers have been used to seeing all the time are not as predictable. And so I wondered what that journey has been like for you, especially since you are reconnected to the land kind of where you grew up and planting where you grew up, what things you've seen in regards to, you know, a shifting climate and what farmers kind of faced trying to mitigate those problems.

Unknown: 13:11

Yeah, I say it's a blessing and a curse that I started farming when I did, because but my first winter we had the February winter freeze, so that did everything. We had it that same year, we had extreme rain, in the month of May, we got 14 inches of rain. And this year, we had no rain. So I've experienced every single abnormality. And so I don't have this is the way that we I've always done it. So I've been able to be flexible inside of that space. So I can say that the skills that I brought over, go down to simple as what's eating my vegetables, or what broke the fence or how did the horses get over that inquisitive mind, knowing where things are and where things have been and or tendencies for the horses to get across the fence since childhood, like you know, oh, they go over by like you know, this piece, we need to reinforce it. So using that previous knowledge of like growing up there and like finding my favorite tree and sitting by it as an adult. It's been really great. It's been great.

Alissa Hessler: 14:17

I have watched your farm grow and your mission, expand the last couple of years and have been ridiculously just inspired by your energy and enthusiasm and passion for this work. And I'd love for you to share what the journey has been like for you and how you've navigated through these periods of growth and evolution.

Unknown: 14:37

Definitely. So I would say taking every day as if it's a new day and not I make a plan big enough to make it make sense for me to continue to keep walking forward. But when I say it's all been an act of purpose, and it hasn't been forceful, I haven't had to like grunt Cush and do like back breaking soul breaking work, it's just been in alignment, everything has been in alignment, everything has been within ease. And I say that as I grow as a person to not, you know, freak out about certain situations, I've seen an increase in the farm growing. When I, when I react well, the farm reacts well, or when the farm reacts, though I react well. So becoming in tune in a part of the land that I love has allowed for me to grow in it to grow, I would say that making the connections and the network that has come from establishing social media, establishing my voice and talking to my neighbors, talking to my friends, has allowed for it to grow in that everything has been a labor of love, it hasn't been this really intense. And a farm, it can be really intense. And people may think like, it's all like, you know, back breaking, but it has been extremely slow of like Mother Nature really working with me and me working with it. And so if I choose to respect it, it's going to respect me, and it's going to turn in tenfold. And so that's really the kind of like evolution that I focus on. And of course, like, I think I look back and I'm like all of these accolades have come and all of these, no, no notoriety has come from it. But I think a bit every single day is a new day, like just like, the when the sun comes up, it's a new day, I think using that, Mo to like to use the farm has allowed for me to like, be at peace with it.

Alissa Hessler: 16:26

You talked a little bit in previous interviews about this intersection of passion and purpose, and how powerful that is. And I feel like a lot of people are kind of seeking that in their lives trying to figure out and I think that, you know, we have these trajectories of what success looks like, and oftentimes are at odds with that, to a certain degree. I wondered if you had any advice for people, because you were quite young, when you put the dots together and were like, This is it on ways that they can like maybe quiet their mind or think about ways that they could work towards making that passion and purpose come together?

Unknown: 17:05

Definitely, when I think about what I'm doing, it's the same thing I was doing when I was three years old, same thing I was doing when I was five, seven, dirty wearing shoes, boots, maybe on the right feet maybe. And so when I thought back to like that core piece of who I am, and who I've always been, I'm doing exactly that I love my mom used to make these fun agendas. And we would have like these programs and going through and Robert's Rules, and all of these things that make a meeting. And she started me in art club when I was young. And I had my friends come in and like we're going to do this today and really understanding public speaking and sharing a story and having a platform, I learned that from when I was Prairie View. And I had a platform and it was legacy, leaving everlasting gifts of art and culture for the years, like getting people to believe in something and pushing. And then that line crosses. So I would say the advice that I would give is honestly thinking about when was the last time you were purely absolutely happy. And think about all the skills that you've gained since that moment, to actually live and breathe and that purpose. When you find your purpose. It's not a hard feeling, it is somewhere where you just stand and allow everything to flow through you. So I would say think back to those moments where you're pure, happy, pure, pure happiness, pure love, where you were emitting pure love, were you feeling pure love, that is where you're supposed to be, that is where you're supposed to be. And when, when we kind of get off our path. That's when things get hard, like things get hard, and we're not on our mission. So using that as a term, it may not be the job that you really worked hard for it may not be the I don't know, these things that we want. Now that I'm in this phase. It's like all these things that I really wanted was like, oh, I want a Range Rover truck. And it's like, no, you don't really want a Range Rover like you don't want to pay for that, like, be more practical, being be more, I would say like unbel in what you want and what you seek, and then those things will come to you like in tenfold I it's really hard to explain the feeling. But everybody has that feeling inside of them when they met that moment, almost like that movie soul where that takes you into that that piece and it could be walking well. Yeah, but flow and finding that flow. And oftentimes that flow doesn't have to be a business. It could just be something you're very passionate about. It does. It could be small goals that you'd like to paint and get into that. So it doesn't have to be this big momentous thing that that changes the world but it changes your world. And that's all that matters.

Alissa Hessler: 19:36

Ah, yes, I have a thank you. I hope that anybody listening to that really takes that in. I would love for you to talk about what the beginning of ivy league farms looked like an early days and what you offered then, and what you offer now and what your plans are for the future because you have a lot of things cooking right now.

Unknown: 19:58

Definitely. So I started off with seven raised beds inside of pole vault structure that my dad got from the high school that they were going to throw away. And so he got it, he helped. He built it took the 10 off. And that became my first living structure. In there, I grew squash, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, had some herbs in there. And that's what I was giving away to my neighbors who put the pandemic started, the grocery store in our neighborhood is very small, all the produce, not all some of the produce can be rotten. And it just, it's just not a it's not a beautiful experience. You go in there and you feel like you have to get you rush out or that no one cares about that you're spending your money there. Where cares about you spending your money there. And so that was my first initiative was like, Hey, how can I get out produce? How can I share where I'm growing, I never thought it would become a farm. I never thought it would become this thing. And so that's where I started, I ended up moving on to the backfield, seven additional rows, 750 foot rows. And now I have increased by 300% into a new field. We have chickens, we have cows now. And so not only the biggest thing right now is we have been dealing with climate change. And so getting those fields prepared with this will be our first true winter where all of our fields are planted and ready for harvest. And so we'll have collard greens, mustard greens, bok choy, tatsoi growing a lot of things, I can't even list them off the top of my head. But we're growing we're able to bring in more diverse vegetables to the community. And so we share those in our community share program. And this coming up. Maybe by the time this podcast gets out, our grocery store will be open. So I partnered with a fellow farmer, where we created fresh house grocery, which alleviates the whole issue that I set out to face was to bring more organic produce more like human experience to my neighborhood. Because it's beyond that my neighborhood doesn't have gyms, juice bars, coffee bar, there's no place to sit down have a restaurant, there's no sit down restaurant. So imagine living in a place where your food is good and go everywhere. There's now let me say there's one restaurant that has recently came in it gives you that humane experience. It's a black owned restaurant, it's absolutely awesome. But that it's far and few between. And so if you don't have transportation to leave our neighborhood, you have to stay and experience everything that it has, which is next to nothing. It's kind of unheard of to think that we're in such a large city and our public transportation system is not as convenient. It's sub sect where you cannot get across the city without having issues or having to hop off and walk a mile. And the way our cities set up our neighborhood is set up is it is kind of like a suburban neighborhood where you have to walk far just to get to a bus stop to our main road, because the bus stops don't go through the neighborhood streets. And so bringing that produce partnering with people like shipt partnering with amazing brands like Kashi and Kellogg's to really figure out how we can get the food moved around the neighborhood and fresh fruit in the neighborhood, and really continue to give that human experience to everyone who lives here.

Alissa Hessler: 23:06

Calling all small business owners, are you looking to expand your customer base beyond the reach of your local community, speak to our loyal audience of over 38,000 listeners by sponsoring an episode of the urban Exodus podcast. For more information, visit urban exodus.com/podcast. You know, having a grocery store there having the restaurant pop up. I think that once somebody invest back into their community, other people go, maybe I could do this too. And so what you're creating is opportunity for other people to create things in your community. Making a living as a small scale farmer, especially right now is really not easy odds are kind of stacked against you. What advice would you give to growers on creative ways to diversify their revenue streams so that they can make it work,

Unknown: 24:00

never counting the produce part of the revenue, business first. So whether that is agri tourism, or education, think about ways where if you've never sold a single bell pepper that you can make money at the end of the day, whether that's merch whether that is sharing, getting into a co op space shared CSA that if you don't have it, someone else does. But you can get your produce out to others, I would say remove the produce, make it your second stream, kind of first stream because the end of the day paying the bills paying the least the mortgage, whatever you have on your land is most important because they say some people like you know, before you start a farm, think about what do you truly want to do. Do you want to keep your land nine times out of 10 Don't start a fire. If you if you want to hold on to the family legacy, then then scale it to the things that you like to do not something that your grandfather was doing. If it's just to happen And then to be self sustainable and homestead then find different ways like bees honey eggs that are high dollar items, value added products to really get your get your money up because implements are expensive farming is not cheap. I think that is one thing that I would like to start talking about more is like how Instagram romanticizes this farming homesteading lifestyle. When it's extremely tough, it's not painted chicken coops and eggs every time it's predators, it, you know, sickness, disease, it is a lot of balance, you're dealing with the Earth, you're dealing with the cycles of the lifecycle so quickly, every single day, whether that's a plant, whether that's an animal, that lifecycle is coming very quickly. And so I really want farmers to stop romanticizing a little bit about what farming actually is what homesteading actually is, because granted, there are a great enjoyment you it's very peaceful to be outside. But Mother Nature is not. There's not AC, like, you know, we've been put into these these environments where you put water, you know, you turn the water on and your faucet and water is gonna come out. But what's the day the wealth cracked down the dam, and now you have to dig a hole and fix it. There's there's so many different pieces to taking care of the land that I think needs to be talked about more.

Alissa Hessler: 26:18

It's a disservice really to only show one side of it too. Because I think that there are a lot of people that would like to get into farming, which we definitely need more people farming. But I think what really struck me about what you said previously, about like, don't think about the produce is like paying your bills. Because small scale farming, it is so difficult to actually have the product, pay your bills, I'd love to know some of the creative ways that you have implemented, I know that you have seeds. Now a whole line of seeds that you sell, you do like pumpkin patches and things like that, what are some of the creative ways that you have implemented that on your farm?

Unknown: 27:00

Definitely. So starting off the pandemic, we sold a lot of houseplants I had plant pop ups. And so everybody became a plant pandemic plant parent. And so we were able to feed that need in a place and and really get plants out. That was That was never the one thing to get a lot of cash flow in the front. Next we did clothing, I'm still working on establishing clothing brand that really fits my body style, because I find that some don't fit my hips. But there might be too long or don't fit my butt like there's there's all different types. So I'm working on a clothing line as well. We have the warmest winter coat. So if you've ever need a winter coat, I live in Maine IV to get one. It's once you put this coat on, you would never think about wearing another color I promise you is warmer. And as well as we did a watermelon patch, really trying to figure out how we can move produce from farmers quicker, faster, and make it fun for the community. So we did watermelon patch pumpkin patch, we're getting ready to start our fall we're having kicking off with the farm to table dinner as a fundraiser. We are doing sound healing coming on the 17th of September. So I'm really excited about that offering these wellness events, the community, shared CSA box, as well as merch, just all kinds of things going out speaking fees, establishing myself as a credible person, a credible person so that I can get paid to speak at like panel panel discussions. So I think that's really important. I think some farmers we get into our own shell farming can be also one thing that's not talked about farming kids lonely, you're outside by yourself all the time and suddenly may not go right. It's a science experiment, your hypothesis, you're thinking of your own hypothesis. And when your hypothesis doesn't work. It hasn't a reactionary cause and so when it's not, you know what you hoped it to be. Now, you can either take that and have it be self deprecating thoughts or keep pushing it forward. And so the different way, yeah, establishing yourself as a credible person to share Oh, getting outside of your mind to share your thoughts, share your your your failures, share your great things, because different processes worked for different farms, and it could be that missing piece that someone is looking for on theirs.

Alissa Hessler: 29:13

You are such an excellent public speaker and you have really honed your mission and your voice. I wondered if you had any advice for people who are trying to figure out you know, how they step into just have the confidence to be able to speak their truth.

Unknown: 29:27

When you have to find your truth. If you haven't found your truth if you put pushing your truth down and trying to hide it and try to hide what or not thinking about what who and what you are and what has what has made you who you are, then you can't even speak the truth. So finding your truth is the biggest thing and it's hard. It's it's it's the other parts of the shadow work. It's it is really getting down to the nitty gritty. And once you get to that point where no one you can't even say anything bad about yourself. No one can say anything bad about you. Then you find a mission you find your voice But if we feel pushed on our voice we can't use. So I think the biggest thing is establishing your truth. When LinkedIn about people who are extremely successful as well, they can tell you, I grew up on welfare, I grew up not having this, I was teen mom, or they can list all these things that people might find shame in my find, oh, I'm ashamed to know that I X, Y and Z, I'm ashamed to know that my parents may have been on drugs or that I didn't grow up in a great neighborhood. When we released that shame, we can grow through it and actually use it as a stepping stool of the rung on a ladder to pull ourselves up to because when you start sharing your story, sharing your truth, other people can can reflect on that and see themselves in that and then they're more likely to support you. So I think the biggest thing is to recognize who in what you are in use that as your rising as your strength and as your mission is to push forward. And like my my personal life, quote is, the beauty of the world belongs to those who master the art we, I used to think that I had I'm gonna do by myself, I could do it by myself. I'm like, No, you need help. You need you need a team, you need a tribe. You need people who are going to support you emotionally, physically, and so that you can keep moving forward. So I think the biggest thing is one finding that truth in living. Olli.

Alissa Hessler: 31:22

Let's talk about your team. I know that your father has been absolutely instrumental in building Ivy League farms. Could you speak about your role of family and friends in the making of this?

Unknown: 31:34

Definitely. So in the beginning, I had my cousin Tim, he was in town working on a project, he had a lot of big like activation tools. So he was able to help move, things get things into place. So I'm really thankful for him his family, we were living at the farm at the time. And so every hand like hey, help me with this. My father, my friends from college, my sorority sisters, my partner, my mom, everyone had a hand in it, because I think it happened at a perfect time where people needed something to do beyond being inside of their head. Getting working with your hands really pushes you to do and think through, you know, some of your own issues or just work in general just changes the soul. I think hard work really teaches you a lot. And so it was a time where everybody just needed to get their hands busy and outside of their minds outside of their homes. It was it's been great. And then my team that works for I believe I was with I believe farms. We all graduated from the same school Prairie View. And so we knew each other in college, and we establish a relationship outside of college before the farm even started, we've been helping each other. Like I said, I help them they helped me it's not really like I'm their boss or anything like that. It's like okay, well, what can we do to establish ourselves in our own careers in the space? And what are we good at? And so that's where we're at.

Alissa Hessler: 32:56

You recently got married? Congratulations. I wonder. I engaged Oh, you haven't been married yet? Sorry. You recently got engaged. You're getting married. I wondered what roles your fiance fills and ivy leaves farm and any advice you have for couples who are considering farming together or one part of the couple farms like any advice to to just like make it work because it is a lot of work to have a farm.

Unknown: 33:27

Definitely, I think one establishing space, the land has a way of infiltrating its its mind into yours. And you're waking up thinking about the Earth all the time. So I would say create space where that is pushing where you're growing vegetables where you can't see it from your home, I will have the luxury of not living on the farm. So when I come home, it's home for us. My partner really helps with education, she really helps with me making sure that me as a farmer that I'm mentally taken care of. She helps me think through things and she's really great marketer. She's she's really great at Instagram. So she helps me with like reels, but overall I feel my soulmate as well. So I'm able to really we're able to really like vibe and and get into flow with each other so that we can go help but she loves the chickens. She loves figuring out new things, because those tell me what to do. It's great, but I would say that if you were starting a farm with a partner to go seek therapy first seek therapy first because when bad things happen on the farm, when bad things happen with weather or, you know, a hurricane might come and blow the top of the barn off and you may not figure it out, but you know, financial stress comes. So I would say find a therapist that works for you all so that when bad things happen, you don't turn on each other and that you lean in on each other because your partner is who essentially your partner is is not an enemy. And so I would say really establishing your communication styles. We have farmers get a bad rap for being angry, to get his bad rap for being angry or you know yelling at tools and things. So I would say like, you know, get a cap on what you what you establish is farm stress, life stress. And then I don't have kids yet whatever kids bring in a whole nother level of thing. So I would say get on one accord when it comes to what you actually want to do. And what are your known moments?

Alissa Hessler: 35:32

You talked about it a little bit, but I know that a lot of farmers face burnout and the early days of getting their farm up and running. How do you structure your days to balance work life and home life?

Unknown: 35:44

Luckily, I live close enough to go home when I'm like fried. Like, go home. Like before I make a decision that, you know, I'm gonna cut all these plans out like no go home, take a shower and reset and come back that I also have the luxury of living in Houston so I can I can go to brunch. And then in my day at the farm, I can go have fun like last night I went to Texas games with my line sisters. After working on the farm all day I went to the Texans game, came home. And now I'm starting my day again. But I get to start it on, you know, the podcast. So making sure that I find moments to actually talk because when I'm by myself here but getting lonely. I think that's it's the loneliness factor of really being out there by yourself and having to make give directions to people when you're unsure yourself. Because we can't predict anything you can you can buy $500 worth of seeds and only one germinates. You know, it's it's crazy. It's almost crazy, the Gamble's that we actually take, we're really putting seeds in the ground and hoping that they pop up to make something. So it's it's the overall resilience and faith and that that it's a lot with it. But I would say I structure my day by putting some fun moments into it.

Alissa Hessler: 36:58

You talked a little bit about this with your family and friends coming together, I garden hard, I would say I'm definitely not a farmer, but the healing effects of just like putting your hands in the soil and being outside. I wonder how your shift into farming has impacted your mental physical and kind of spiritual health.

Unknown: 37:22

There's a quote that says like working with the soil, the soil is a direct correlation to talking to the soil, something like that, I think miscoded it definitely is has been so work, I have deepened my faith deepened my understanding of who I am, who other people are around me. And that I only attribute it to nature, you know, seeing a bird you know, you might have a thought and then you might say bird you never seen before. And then you go search it and now, like you know what that what that bird might stand for helps you continue on your path. So what I see often is a blue heron. There we AM, Texas is a swamp land where I'm at is swamp land. But there's been so much construction that you know, you have to know to some of the birds that are native to the area. And so when I'm having these thoughts where I'm like, man, like, I don't know how I'm gonna do this, I don't know how I'm gonna make this work of new hammer fly by and that'll give me my political zeal to solidify that, okay, you're on the right path, right? Because Herons, they have these two little legs, but they keep up this big, great long body. And it signifies like, you know, just standing on your own to and really setting this independence factor. And so I would say that allowing nature to really flow and give me that inspiration. And it sounds silly to those who don't spend a lot of time outdoors. But like, you might see a ladybug, right? When you think about your grandmother, or I see red Cardinal when I think about my grandfather, and it just helps you know that your spirit is in the right place. So I would say that, spending more time with my dad. Both of my parents are city sitting cowboys, I would say they will have real jobs, regular jobs, corporate jobs. My dad isn't NASA engineer, my mom's lawyer. So seeing him, you know, you would never think that, you know, he has these overalls on his pants are wonky. He's had him for 20 years. But he's a computer engineer. So if you can imagine that mind working outdoors and asking him questions not only about the work that we're doing, but my my relationship, my like love and he really helped me open up to become like, you know, a public bisexual woman in this world, like where I never had to really name myself. But he like you know, he helped me figure out how to name myself like what showing love and being happy and choosing happiness above all else and not caring about what other people think about it. So I would say that and then also spending more time out there I think because it had become such a like thing we do on the side. No one was really going out there for fun beyond like weekend trips. And so because I'm out there every day because we're out there every day. Now I see my mom like standing by the chicken coop sending pictures or like my dad counting the chicken Isn't there together out there having a good time? So I would say overall, like, No, we have Sunday dinners. Now I'll define where everybody in the family comes, we do some kind of fun, whether it's shooting a target, or cleaning the saddles. I think it has brought like this overall unity back into our family, because that's where we started. That is where my mom would take us after school, we run out, we never went to the park, we just went to the farm. And so bringing that unity back in has been absolutely beautiful.

Alissa Hessler: 40:28

You know, the manifestation of something that feels right for you. It's basically like these tendrils that pull out and so much good can come of that. I wondered if you had any advice for people who'd like to farm or build a farm business in a city or a suburb, but maybe don't currently have access to land on creative ways that they could maybe find access or find partnerships to do that.

Unknown: 40:52

Definitely reach out to your city, reach out to the school, reach out to your neighborhood parks, you never know what their initiatives are, they're in extreme initiatives, or parks, they're always needing people to come to the park. So it's a find way, it's almost thinking about, like, if you as a kid, it's like, well, if you find two more people to help you with the lemonade stand, you can open up one. So if you find people who are like mine, you can figure out how to get some space. But if you have a backyard, you can become a farmer that doesn't require a lot. I mean, in Texas, if you can sell $1,000 worth of something, you are a farmer, no matter if it's hydroponics going in your second bedroom, or in your phone or on your patio, if you can figure out how to grow something, you are a farmer. So I would say start in the backyard start in any kind of space that you have. Even if it's a little alleyway, start start in eventually, the visuals will figure out for you how to.

Alissa Hessler: 41:47

Yeah, I mean, I think there's this fear of starting or this fear of like not having the infrastructure to go into it. But just like the act of getting started and like one foot in front of the other and just kind of figuring it out as you go. Because even as a farmer, I mean, now you've been farming for two years. I heard that saying I'm probably going to probably get a massacre it but it's like every year, I am a first year farmer because just like you're dealing with a completely different set of variables. And one year, you'll just kill it on tomatoes. And the next year, no tomatoes like total blight. So every year is a new experience

Unknown: 42:22

every year is a new experience. And if you don't get your feet in the game, you can't play like you know. So I think like, you know how they say like cats have like toxoplasmosis where it like makes you like, wants to take care of them more. I think vegetables figure out what like how can you grow more? Like how can we get more, assuming you have all these pots of things growing around. So if you ever had like a house plate, you know, you get more and more. So I think in the future, there's probably going to be some kind of bacteria in the soil that makes you want to like grow.

Alissa Hessler: 42:51

Oh my gosh, Id I think you're onto something. I'm like obsessed with toxoplasmosis. I think it's like the most fascinating, weirdest thing. Anybody who's never heard of this, like, look it up. It's very fascinating. But I think that you're right, because like, I couldn't keep a basil plant alive when I lived in Seattle. And then I moved out here and I just started growing stuff. And now like, my whole house is filled with house plants. And yeah, like some die occasionally, but like, a lot of them live and now I'm giving cuttings to people and I'm taking cuttings, and it's only been 10 years. So I'm definitely starting to like hoard plants. There's gotta be something to

Unknown: 43:28

that thing. There's something.

Alissa Hessler: 43:30

Definitely, I wondered what this journey from farming and entrepreneurship has taught you about yourself. And it's also taught you about your Sunnyside community because like this is really like community building as well. And you had just moved to that community even though you've visited it a lot growing up,

Unknown: 43:48

I would say the amount of resilience that's inside the DNA of people like we've always had to be resilient. No matter what is faced with us. We can't focus on who's in office, what's happening, like it's a day to day resilience that happens in our neighborhood where it's like we're only going to be able to save ourselves. So being a part of the piece that gives people solace because food is such a connecting piece inside of any as humans we have to eat when I can give almost like a heritage experience of bringing a collard green that they haven't seen the shape or size or has a blue vein or red vein that they haven't seen since their time in Mississippi or growing up in North Carolina. It brings back this beautiful memory. There's lady named grandma who is my roommate, her grandmother lives down the street from me and so I bring her you know, mustard greens and kale because you can't buy really mustard greens in the store. And so I give him these muscle grants and she's like man like these I haven't had these since growing up as a child and you know, she's getting older so her memory you know things she's still sharp but to bring back those kinds of tastes. Memories in court. memories for people has been absolutely amazing. And that brings me peace that absolutely brings me peace.

Alissa Hessler: 45:05

Absolutely. And food is memory just like smell is memory. Exactly.

Unknown: 45:11

No like smell sound like all of these things that connect with our lives our past lives or future lives that that but food like you know, food is always the thing that is always sustained us.

Alissa Hessler: 45:23

I just wanted to give an enormous thank you to all of you who have made contributions to offset the production costs of this podcast, it means so much to me that you find enough meaning and value to pledge your support to keep this going. If you haven't had a chance to contribute, we've made it really easy for you. Just click the support button on the top of urban Exodus website. You can also get access to bonus episodes, rapid fire interviews, and our new mini podcast. Ditch the city by signing up for our apple podcast premium. Or you can become a member of the urban Exodus online community where you can access hundreds of photos, stories, interviews, tutorials, videos and more. Find out more by visiting the membership page on urban exodus.com. For me, urban excess is less really about leaving the city and more about pursuing greater self sufficiency and localized resilience which we've been talking about a lot. Whether you're in a city suburbs, small town, having spent the last two years fostering community and greater local resilience in Sunnyside, I'd love for you to talk about the changes that you've seen in your community. And the importance of localized agriculture.

Unknown: 46:41

Definitely. So the biggest change that I've seen is changes are like businesses. So when we're having a grocery store, they had to get right with the city, they had to get their permits together. They weren't we they realized that they, you know, had some faults with their building. And so when you when you think about when someone's coming in to invest into to make greater, you kind of have forces everyone to like help, let's get our ducks in a row so that we can continue on this mission. I would say that I would say it's the hustle mindset. I mean, some of the older gentleman neighborhood, they see me hustling and working and they're like, man, like you're a hard worker, I want to help you or I want I want to work just as hard or how can I you know, get my son or my daughter to work with you. So I would say that it's bringing this level of like, Hey, we're moving forward, like steamrollers coming, all these new houses are coming, gentrification, whether it's happening by young black professionals, or it's happening by people from the outside, it's coming. So I gotta get myself in order so that I can continue to move forward with my neighborhood, or I'm gonna be left behind. And I think that is one thing that people need to understand inside of community work is that not everybody's going to come? Not everybody's going to jump on to ship. But you have to focus on the people who do care and ride for them hard, hard, hard to show up for them, and work together to make it happen. Because at the end of the day, we if we focus on trying to bring every single person that convincing every single person that this is the right thing to do where it was we'll spend time running in a circle, running in a circle, repeating the same pattern. So what I say about this grocery store, is it is not the you know, this whole new system, but it's reworking all the systems that have failed the community beforehand, whether that is digital segregation, where we went don't get high Wi Fi. So now we have to bring in high speed Wi Fi so we can have a little coffee bar, or having a place where people can meet and date. Think about it, you can never go on a date with your girlfriend in high school or your boyfriend in high school. Or it's always at McDonald's, or it's not a place where you can really find some synergy. And how can you have establish a loving relationship, right? So if it's garbage on the street, hey, we got to stop littering. And it's us. That's literally throwing these bags in trash on the ground. We got to put up more trash cans or put don't litter sign so at least people know like, Hey, this is our neighborhood. We were doing this to ourselves. And so I would say that, you know, I'm not gonna spend all day saying hey, stop littering. I'm gonna I'm gonna hold up signs stop littering. I'm gonna go pick up the trash and keep it moving and somebody will see it. And maybe that'll inspire somebody to make sure that they pick up trash, we know walking by, right. So it's just those kinds of things that I think I've seen inside of the neighborhood, and I hope to continue inside of our neighborhood. But like I said, it's still a pandemic. There are still a lot of things that are disproportionate. We are still very much there's a lot of drug activity in the neighborhood. That is not talked about. There's only so much I also one thing with community work I would like to share is pick your pick your lane and stay in your lane. We can't solve everything. I can't hop onto the drug crisis, because I'm working on the food crisis. Right. And I can't hop on to housing crisis because I'm focusing on the food crisis. So that keeps me focused that even though I see all these things, I hope to inspire others to pick up something that they care about something that that is passionate for them, so that they can get into their passion and purpose and crossing that that link takes off. But if I continue to focus on what I'm doing and how I'm doing it and doing it right every single time, then I can make a change for everyone else Inspire.

Alissa Hessler: 50:15

Absolutely. And so many people get so overwhelmed by the enormity of problems that we're facing right now that it freezes them from action, just that idea of like, okay, here's the one thing that I can focus on. And yes, maybe I can coordinate with people that are working in housing, maybe I can coordinate with those people, we can like form ideas and move together. But like, I have to focus on the mission at hand, that just like, it frees you up in a way to just do the work and not get that burnout, right.

Unknown: 50:50

And to not like, honestly, it's stressful to think about all the things that can that are systematically wrong with saying, Hey, we're humans here. And we try to convince a business to bring a grocery store, when there are grocery stores across the street from each other. And they can make that business plan work. But they can't make a business plan for a low income. Neighborhood work, right? If you can put a HB across from a Kroger's. Heb is like a big thing. If you can put a Walmart across from a target that we can't get one Walmart, we can't get one target. We can't get you can't We can't get a so that that's just like really insane to me. So the fact that I even have to say, hey, we don't have food here, there's no there. There are no, we need food for humans who need food, they find value in us, we need food. That's crazy. To me. That's crazy. It's absolutely insane. Like that, I believe that what I have to do, and what I'm doing is absolutely insane to me. When he really thinks record level, it's absolutely insane.

Alissa Hessler: 51:51

It's absolutely insane. And it doesn't make sense that like all human beings, basic human needs, that that is not available to everyone like because in nature, if we're observing nature, right, all creatures have all their needs provided for in the natural world, except for human beings. And there's something that is innately wrong with that. And I mean, obviously, it comes down to systemic racism and problems in our systems that need to be fixed. But like, it's so difficult to change those systems and to wake people up to the enormous inequities that happen all across the world, still, to this day, but in the United States, it's so prevalent. And it's interesting, because it happens in rural spaces, and it happens in urban spaces as well. And there's so much division, the pandemic is like their the enormous problems and disparities in agriculture from land and capital access to profitability. And in your opinion, what systemic changes do you think need to be made in agriculture in order to have a more equitable, accessible and functional food system in the United States?

Unknown: 53:03

Now? No. I don't know. I went to this conference, and I listened to all these people speaking. And I'm like, I don't know. I felt like I wish I did know, I think that honestly, if everybody focused no matter if you had land don't have land, if your acumen you need to grow something, if you're not a part of a food system, your food system at all. It's the prop that you're part of the problem. It is not the farmers go like issue to have to feed the whole entire world, right? It's not our but if everyone focuses on their own backyard, their own family, their own household, in establishing some kind of you should be able to eat something out of your backyard at least once a week, once a week, something out of your patio once a week, whether it's around on your windowsill or something, you should be able to have something a part of your food system. Because I think what when we moved away from packing and canning and doing all these things in our households, because that's what we had to do. There was a time when Walmart's and grocery stores did not exist. And we all we all had to eat something right. There was little groceries, neighborhood groceries, but everyone was taking care of their families. Like I said, my dad had 17 Brothers and sisters, they never went hungry or had a meal without meat because they knew how to hunt, canned fish and garden, they could have been blowing it whatever spectrum but who's really poor when you have to go buy your food, right? When you have to go like when you don't know how to take care of yourself as a human who's really rich, who's really what is what is really the trade off there. Right. And so I think in agriculture, it's not going to be up to the farmers. It's not going to be up to it's going to be up to the individual humans to take care of themselves. We're lucky that it wasn't a zombie apocalypse, like, you know, I'm not like one of those doomsday prepper prepper. But if we had to where everybody had to take care of their own, the world would have imploded because people don't have skills, skills, first aid skills come like not even combat, combat, really, but first aid, taking care of yourself as a human skills, like, you know, the magnifying glass and a leaf to start a fire or something, you know, I think that is what's wrong, I think we can try to think about like big, big, big industry and big farming all of these things, but they're really just producing, you know, wheat, corn, soy, all the things that could turn into crap that we shouldn't be eating. So I don't know. That's my long.

Alissa Hessler: 55:34

My lie. You know, that's a really good response to that, though, because I mean, most of us are only like a generation or two removed what you said about canning, I was like, yes, because I just saw that, like, there's a rural community in Virginia that now has like, instituted this canning thing where they have a commercial kitchen, and people can sign up for free to can they're fresh fruits and vegetables and have somebody there who can like help teach them the process and observe it. And I'm like that, that is resilient, that is moving us to a place where you know, when all the toilet paper gets bought up, or like all the food shelves, like I think that you know, COVID wasn't a zombie apocalypse, but it was a wake up call to a certain degree of like, here's how fragile our systems of convenience are. And here's how dependent we are on these huge corporations to take care of us. And do they care about us? Exactly. You have committed yourself to a life of service and entrepreneurship, and what are both of those things mean to you?

Unknown: 56:33

I would say like, okay, yes, I'm an entrepreneur, I figure out how to make money, right? I turn this to something. But when I think about it, at the end of the day, I'm just having fun. Like, I want to do a pumpkin patch. Let's make sure we make the dollars make sense. But also like, let's have a pumpkin patch, or let's do all of these fun, amazing things. So I would say that if I continue to have this spirit of like, fondness and you know, I call myself a community entrepreneur and making sure that I'm doing things for the community, bringing the money back, like Robin Hood, to make sure that we are eating well and doing well and growing, then I don't know, I guess I don't think I have an answer to that. But just having fun. I don't think of myself as an entrepreneur, I just think about a person who's having fun and doing right by the people who around me, that's all I was taught was like your word is your bond, and taking care of the people who around you. What, who are we not to serve, but our community will read that to help. But the people who live next door to us, I don't want to enemy out of my neighbor. So while I make an enemy out of my neighbor, that day, there your left and your right and your bed. Why would you make an enemy of the people who are next year? You know, so building community is super important. It's all I know, honestly, I don't know any different. Sometimes I feel like I have the luxury of growing up on this tiny farm in the middle of the third largest city in America. Like, you know, I have this old school love for things. My my parents are older, they're in their 60s. So they hadn't when they were like 30. They were already, you know, establishing in similar ways. I don't know, I don't think now I'm not 30 yet. I can't imagine like thinking I have anything together at 30. But I be

Alissa Hessler: 58:13

you have so much together. As a 40 year old woman. I am like, oh my gosh, wow, you have got so much together just as an outsider, just so you know. You may not feel it,

Unknown: 58:28

but I've seen it. Yeah. So like my parents are 60. So it's like I have older parents who like, I'm not my grandparents were born in 1908 1930. I'm not far removed from the old lifestyle. So I would think that my blood is still kind of a generation behind compared to my peers. So yeah, I don't know. I'm just having fun right now. And I'm just excited to have more fun and continue to take care of the people who around me.

Alissa Hessler: 58:58

What advice do you have for people who are inspired by your career pivot and would like to leave their existing job and pursue their passion as their profession.

Unknown: 59:07

Make sure you're passionate makes dollars passionate and free. Make sure you're charging for what you feel like you should have. Yeah, purpose isn't free. Remember that. People think that you have to go out and do this purpose. And I'm going to share with the world purpose is not free. You will given skills so that you can continue lifestyle. However you may choose. I would say also minimize, realize the things in your life that you really don't need. Get rid of your wants some wanting for things and you'll be happy. One side is the biggest killer I think right now for millennials. I want this person I want this shoes or what these bags I want. I want to look this way. They're getting the good of the ones and you'll be extremely happy to let you have you realize how much you have. They don't realize how much they haven't had to have to move. Then you're like, oh my gosh, I have a lot of stuff right? So when you get to the point where you can minimize your wants, focus on your needs and make Make sure that you have and finally finding the romance in every single piece. Don't leave your job until you have a great monetary don't just up and quit. If you don't have any money, that's not smart. Be smart about it. Make sure that you are able to have savings I had, I can't say that they'd be able to have given me $10,000. I don't know where I would be right. I wouldn't know I wouldn't be on the news, I wouldn't have had the media's I don't think that would have been the big push. I think it would have happened eventually. But that was the push. I don't know, I had a family to lean back on that that things really went haywire. So be smart. You know, there's, there's all this like, I'm just gonna quit and end up back in the hole. Be smart. Be very smart about your career, but also just remember passion. Is it breed purpose? Is it free? Then feel bad for charging for it?

Alissa Hessler: 1:00:47

Yeah, that's so true. And I think oftentimes, when people are trying to go into their passion as a profession, they don't charge or they like, feel weird about charging, but it's okay.

Unknown: 1:00:58

Like you have the skills to get an MBA for free. No, he sets six, eight, and he can dunk like, No, you think they meet Him for His purpose?

Alissa Hessler: 1:01:10

I mean, this is a funny question, since you aren't even 30 yet, but what legacy Do you want to leave behind for your family and for future generations out of this work,

Unknown: 1:01:20

I want to leave them with a lot of money to do whatever they want. That is my goal is to establish brands build out I believe outdoors outdoor company, established companies that they can have pride in and have financial security. And I think that is not talked about enough in the black community nepotism, I want to be able to have nepotism, like, you know, like, that is something like I want to be able to have grandkids that can decide they want to do something, whether it's making clown dolls, I don't know that the freedom to be whatever they want to be. So I hope that my legacy is freedom for my, for the future, a computer brought up a trust. We've never had a trust in my family. I've never, like, you know, like a trust thing. Haha, see, like, I know people would trust, right. But I want to be able to have one to leave to my family to establish like, you know, security and that kind of way, things that have not been done. That wasn't just my babies, like I want my kids or grandkids to be trust on babies.

Alissa Hessler: 1:02:18

It gives you choice, it gives you choices in your life, it actually like allows you to a certain degree to connect with that purpose earlier if you have a safety net. And so few people have safety nets. And so once you're able to give that safety net to someone it gives them well know a boost away to seek their whatever their truth is earlier on. I think

Unknown: 1:02:42

early on. Yeah, exactly. And so that that is what I would consider legacy for me is stability to do whatever you want to have the freedom. I mean, I would love to know that my great grandchild is a clown. i That would make me happy. Yeah.

Alissa Hessler: 1:03:00

I love do it. Yeah, it's gonna make other people laugh. Although I'm terrified of clouds. I was slightly terrified.

Unknown: 1:03:08

You know, the last time I've seen a clown, but it just popped in your head. But whenever I see them, I'm like, oh, you know, you know, these people who like do like these, like, they have these? No, I wouldn't come out obsessions, but they're like different things. It's like, oh, that's what you do. And it's like, yeah, that's what I do. Like, you know, the luxury to go bird watching the bird like, you know, like, it's, it's electric to do you have the luxury to be whoever they want to be. Yeah, absolutely.

Alissa Hessler: 1:03:33

I mean, how can people support your mission, learn from you follow your journey, all of those things. I'll have links and stuff to

Unknown: 1:03:41

me. I really farms on Instagram, our website, I believe. farms.com tell a friend, word of mouth is the biggest thing to the friend and start growing something in your own backyard. That'll help me if someone starts growing their own food that can start working for them. Like growing your own food and figuring out like, you know, side ground, walk on the grass that would make me happy. DM me, send me some words, send some jokes. I like memes I like all kinds of memes. So the Amiga memes nice pictures and things that keeps me encouraged makes me laugh while working. So supporting me means sharing the word supporting me Of course financially sharing with those if you have corporate dollars, share those corporate dollars sharing looking for farmers in your area in your zip code. We're doing work like me, and helping them out giving them a hand helping a fellow farmer helps me right so looking at your zip code, look for your near school desert see the initiatives that are going on in that and that helps me because like at the end of the day, I'm doing what I can in my neighborhood. And but there's there are so many neighborhoods that look just like my

Alissa Hessler: 1:04:46

Ivy. It has been just an absolute pleasure and honor to talk with you today. I am even more in awe of you now, about this whole conversation with you. You're just incredible. Incredible. Thank you so much for the work that you're doing. Thank you so much for spending time with us and sharing all of this wisdom that you have given throughout this conversation. Thank you again Ivy for coming on the podcast. Some of my key takeaways from her episode. Finding Your Path and purpose in life isn't easy. But once you figure it out, there should be a level of ease and fulfillment that you feel in the work. When Ivy spoke about feeling a sense of peace when she began farming, and things starting to fall into place. Those are clear indicators of being on the right path. Connecting with your mission means connecting with what brings you into flow. If you work in any pursuit that involves community action or helping others, you need to recognize that you can't fix the world on your own set boundaries. Take care of your own needs first, and stay focused on your own area of expertise. These actions will help you live a more balanced life and be more effective in your work and help you avoid burnout. And lastly, Legacy family community. True joy and fulfillment comes from connecting with others, getting your hands dirty, and sharing your gifts with those around you. Hi, friends, thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the urban Exodus podcast. This is a listener supported program that is only made possible through your continued support. And if you haven't already, we would really love it if you'd leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts or Spotify, or whatever service you listen on. And please recommend urban access to your friends. An enormous thank you to my incredible producer Simone Leon, and my amazing editor Johnny Sol, and my music man Benjamin Thoreau, and thanks to all of you for listening. I'm Alissa Hessler and this is the urban Exodus